Modern Green Hotels Initiatives from Guests Perspective

Abstract

The green hotel concept has generated interest among researchers and policymakers due to the increasing environmental and green practices awareness. In Thailand, the Green Leaf Certification is used to indicate the eco-friendly status of a hotel. It contains all or most aspects covering environmental policies such as waste management, energy, and water efficiency, procurement of hotel supplies, air and water quality, noise pollution, hazardous material management, ecological impact, collaboration with community and local administration, etc. The research explored a different perspective on modern green hotel initiatives by analyzing real-life guests' perspectives, adopting a survey research design method. Green Leaf-certified hotels in the Central region of Thailand were selected using a convenience sampling technique. Primary data was obtained from hotel guests using a structured online questionnaire hosted on Google Forms. A sample of 375 respondents completed the online questionnaire. The data was analyzed through discussions and multiple regression analysis for the quantitative data. The results indicated that modern green hotels in the Central region of Thailand have adopted various green initiatives to be recognized as green hotels. Among them are Green Leaf Certification, recycling, organic food, food waste composting program, bioextract production program, water conservation and energy savings, and prohibition of smoking. The results indicated that green practices (green hotel practices, green consumption, and green innovation) positively and significantly affect guest perspectives (guest satisfaction and guest loyalty). The study concludes that green hotel initiatives help hotels comply with the green regulations and monitoring bodies pushing the hospitality sector towards green initiatives, increase guest satisfaction, especially the green champions, improve guest loyalty, and boost hotels' competitiveness and market share.