<p>The environmental concern starts to be a key challenging issue for organizations nowadays. In fact, we find a growing trend towards “green” consumerism, which in turns affects companies’ strategy. The hospitality industry is not considered as one of the biggest pollution emitters, neither the one consuming the biggest quantity of non-renewable resources, but it is particularly interesting because of its increasing economic importance and the higher environmental concern it is showing. The whole process by which the hotels define policies, strategies as well as develop environmental practices in order to reduce their negative impact on the natural environment is named as Environmental Management. Those hotels that have followed this process and strive to be more environmentally friendly through the efficient use of energy, water and materials while providing quality services are defined as “green hotels”. Thus, in the present study we discover what motivated hotels in Sweden to become green, as well as the steps they followed in turning into green, including the definition of goals, the implementation of practices and the potential barriers that make this process difficult to execute.</p><p>In a first approach, we found in the literature review some theories related to the factors that influence companies to become green, as well as how to define a green strategy. In a second section, we focused on how the goals must be defined and which indicators can be used to evaluate the environmental performance. Finally, we presented possible barriers, relating this fact to the prioritization of objectives.</p><p>We led a qualitative approach by running semi-structured and structured interviews to the manager and one employee, respectively, of three different hotels in Abisko and Umeå. The results showed that the main reason why hotels become green is because of the pressure the stakeholders exert on them. The main steps hotels followed to achieve this objective were the establishment of plans and goals, involving the department´s level, its implementation (practices), review, evaluation and improvement of the environmental strategy. But this process is not easy; hotels have to manage with the big cost associated to become green.</p><p>At the end of the study, some suggestions will be given to hoteliers (e.g. define specific goals) as well as some suggestions for future researches (study of hotels from different cities of Sweden).</p>

The environmental concern starts to be a key challenging issue for organizations nowadays. In fact, we find a growing trend towards “green” consumerism, which in turns affects companies’ strategy. The hospitality industry is not considered as one of the biggest pollution emitters, neither the one consuming the biggest quantity of non-renewable resources, but it is particularly interesting because of its increasing economic importance and the higher environmental concern it is showing. The whole process by which the hotels define policies, strategies as well as develop environmental practices in order to reduce their negative impact on the natural environment is named as Environmental Management. Those hotels that have followed this process and strive to be more environmentally friendly through the efficient use of energy, water and materials while providing quality services are defined as “green hotels”. Thus, in the present study we discover what motivated hotels in Sweden to become green, as well as the steps they followed in turning into green, including the definition of goals, the implementation of practices and the potential barriers that make this process difficult to execute. In a first approach, we found in the literature review some theories related to the factors that influence companies to become green, as well as how to define a green strategy. In a second section, we focused on how the goals must be defined and which indicators can be used to evaluate the environmental performance. Finally, we presented possible barriers, relating this fact to the prioritization of objectives. We led a qualitative approach by running semi-structured and structured interviews to the manager and one employee, respectively, of three different hotels in Abisko and Umeå. The results showed that the main reason why hotels become green is because of the pressure the stakeholders exert on them. The main steps hotels followed to achieve this objective were the establishment of plans and goals, involving the department´s level, its implementation (practices), review, evaluation and improvement of the environmental strategy. But this process is not easy; hotels have to manage with the big cost associated to become green. At the end of the study, some suggestions will be given to hoteliers (e.g. define specific goals) as well as some suggestions for future researches (study of hotels from different cities of Sweden).

This research study aims to investigate consumers' perception ( attitudes and their intention to chose) of green hotels. Due to significant increases in the Hispanic population and consequently their purchasing power, the study will focus on Hispanics' attitudes. Additionally, this study seeks to enlighten and identify attitudes that could possibly attract a different kind of consumer to green hotels. ' The use of eco-friendly products has risen as more people become aware of the consequences human behavior has on the environment. Likewise, the amount of hotels that employ strong efforts on environmental activities has increased. However, the concept of green hotels seems to be stronger in the supply-side rather than the consumer demand-side. This could be attributed to misperceptions of consumers' environmental behaviors and ineffective marketing campaigns. Additionally, a market that has not been thoroughly considered is the rapidly growing market of Hispanic consumers. A theoretical and practical approach is used throughout the study. The empirical part of the study was conducted at the 2009 Hispanic Business and Consumer Expo in Central Florida. The findings suggest that the Hispanic consumer has a highly positive attitude toward eco-friendly measures practiced in hotels. Additionally, the findings show significant differences within Hispanic subgroups when classified by various demographic factors. In consideration of the findings, practical implications are contended and future research is suggested in view of the limitations faced.

Currently, there are environmental issues the world is facing which include global climate change, ozone depletion, pollution, high consumption of resources and increasing amounts of solid waste. Tourism is one of the largest industries and it is an important economic tool. However, it also has many negative effects on the environment. Hotels as one of the tourism industry’s component parts have a significant impact on the environment. From an environmental perspective, hotels consume a large amount of resources such as water and electricity as they make efforts to provide physical comfort to guests. In addition, hotels generate large quantities of waste, which is one of their most visible effects on the environment. Hotels also make a significant contribution to greenhouse gases which are a cause of concern due to the ozone layer depletion. Many hotel customers have become aware of the environmental damages and wasting of environmental resources caused by hotels and they now look for hotels that follow eco-friendly practices. This has brought increasing pressure on hotels to implement more green initiatives. There is limited documented information on green management among hotels in South Africa and in Zimbabwe. While the number and range of impacts hotels have on the environment suggests an urgent need to address them, the environmental management initiatives in these hotels are scantly addressing these green issues and this study is the first to address these issues. The goal of the study was therefore to develop a green management framework for hotels in South Africa and Zimbabwe so that these developing countries may contribute significantly in mitigation of the negative environmental effects. To achieve this goal, two literature chapters addressed the issue of green management and how it can be implemented by hotels. A qualitative research was then carried out employing the case study strategy to collect data from hotel managers in South Africa and Zimbabwe (four in Zimbabwe and four in South Africa). Data was collected using personal interviews involving a direct meeting of the interviewer and the interviewee. Personal interviews were carried out in Zimbabwe. In South Africa, data was collected using telephone interviews. In both Zimbabwe and South Africa, data was recorded on a digital voice recorder. Data was later transcribed and then analysed using the content analysis method. Some of the main findings of the study are that, while some perceptions of managers about the green management concept are consistent with a number of aspects emphasised in literature, some hotel managers do not fully understand or grasp what the concept of green management entails. This indicates that a gap exists between managers’ knowledge and what green management really means, at least according to literature. The study has also established that in most hotels, there is unavailability of green management policies, suggesting that there is a lack of knowledge about the importance of a green management policy amongst hotel managers in these two developing countries. The key contributions of this study are that, it provides insights on the current debate on green management in hotels as revealed through green management initiatives implemented in hotels in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Secondly, the study makes a contribution by doing a supply side analysis and identifying the views of hotel managers with regard to green management. This study also contributed by proposing a green management framework for hotels – an aspect that is currently lacking in the existing literature especially from a developing country point of view. The green management framework proposed has guidelines for implementation. The hoteliers in the two countries will thus benefit from the framework and will be in a position to implement green initiatives to mitigate the negative impacts hotels have on the environment. / PhD (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Currently, there are environmental issues the world is facing which include global climate change, ozone depletion, pollution, high consumption of resources and increasing amounts of solid waste. Tourism is one of the largest industries and it is an important economic tool. However, it also has many negative effects on the environment. Hotels as one of the tourism industry’s component parts have a significant impact on the environment. From an environmental perspective, hotels consume a large amount of resources such as water and electricity as they make efforts to provide physical comfort to guests. In addition, hotels generate large quantities of waste, which is one of their most visible effects on the environment. Hotels also make a significant contribution to greenhouse gases which are a cause of concern due to the ozone layer depletion. Many hotel customers have become aware of the environmental damages and wasting of environmental resources caused by hotels and they now look for hotels that follow eco-friendly practices. This has brought increasing pressure on hotels to implement more green initiatives. There is limited documented information on green management among hotels in South Africa and in Zimbabwe. While the number and range of impacts hotels have on the environment suggests an urgent need to address them, the environmental management initiatives in these hotels are scantly addressing these green issues and this study is the first to address these issues. The goal of the study was therefore to develop a green management framework for hotels in South Africa and Zimbabwe so that these developing countries may contribute significantly in mitigation of the negative environmental effects. To achieve this goal, two literature chapters addressed the issue of green management and how it can be implemented by hotels. A qualitative research was then carried out employing the case study strategy to collect data from hotel managers in South Africa and Zimbabwe (four in Zimbabwe and four in South Africa). Data was collected using personal interviews involving a direct meeting of the interviewer and the interviewee. Personal interviews were carried out in Zimbabwe. In South Africa, data was collected using telephone interviews. In both Zimbabwe and South Africa, data was recorded on a digital voice recorder. Data was later transcribed and then analysed using the content analysis method. Some of the main findings of the study are that, while some perceptions of managers about the green management concept are consistent with a number of aspects emphasised in literature, some hotel managers do not fully understand or grasp what the concept of green management entails. This indicates that a gap exists between managers’ knowledge and what green management really means, at least according to literature. The study has also established that in most hotels, there is unavailability of green management policies, suggesting that there is a lack of knowledge about the importance of a green management policy amongst hotel managers in these two developing countries. The key contributions of this study are that, it provides insights on the current debate on green management in hotels as revealed through green management initiatives implemented in hotels in South Africa and Zimbabwe. Secondly, the study makes a contribution by doing a supply side analysis and identifying the views of hotel managers with regard to green management. This study also contributed by proposing a green management framework for hotels – an aspect that is currently lacking in the existing literature especially from a developing country point of view. The green management framework proposed has guidelines for implementation. The hoteliers in the two countries will thus benefit from the framework and will be in a position to implement green initiatives to mitigate the negative impacts hotels have on the environment. / PhD (Tourism Management), North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Problematization: Tourism has a major impact on the environment. However, there is a conflict of interest making it difficult for the hotel business to decrease this impact. On the one hand, there is a pressure for environmentally friendly behaviour from society. On the other hand, the customers want to be pampered during their hotel stay. This makes it necessary to further investigate what influences customers’ intention to select a green hotel. Therefore this thesis examines students’ intention to select a green hotel. Since, it might make it easier for hotels to design and implement strategies to be greener, if they know what is important. Purpose: The aim with this thesis is to examine how the variables subjective norm, perceived behavioural control, perceived moral obligation and environmental awareness influence students’ intention to select green hotels. The main theory used is the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB). However, to make the TPB model fit better to the context green hotels, the variables perceived moral obligation and environmental awareness were added. The reason for adding these variables was because they are closely entwined with each other and is argued in previous research argues they influence environmentally friendly behaviour. Methodology: This study used an online questionnaire and a small experiment in the questionnaire. The sample consisted of students from Kristianstad University. Conclusion: The result of this study shows that all the hypotheses were rejected and therefore the null hypotheses are retained.

Tesis por compendio / [ES] La tesis doctoral explora la influencia de los certificados de hoteles ecológicos en las decisiones de compra de los clientes en línea en el contexto del creciente enfoque de la industria hotelera en la sostenibilidad. El estudio tiene como objetivo investigar las actitudes de los clientes hacia los certificados verdes, examinando el conocimiento, la comprensión y la confianza en estas credenciales. También explora si la presencia de certificados verdes afecta las intenciones de los clientes de reservar un hotel y su disposición a pagar una prima por alojamientos respetuosos con el medio ambiente. Además, la investigación busca identificar factores que median o regulan la relación entre los certificados verdes y las decisiones de compra de los clientes, incluidos datos demográficos, creencias ambientales y calificaciones de reseñas en línea. Los hallazgos indican que la conciencia ambiental está impulsando la demanda de productos y servicios ecológicos, y las certificaciones ecológicas son un importante factor de motivación para que los clientes paguen más por alojarse en hoteles ecológicos. Los millennials, en particular, muestran una disposición a pagar más por hoteles que adopten prácticas ecológicas. El estudio también señala una tendencia en la que un porcentaje considerable de viajeros expresa su apoyo a los hoteles ecológicos y está dispuesto a gastar más en alojamientos respetuosos con el medio ambiente. La investigación sugiere que las certificaciones ecológicas, las consideraciones ambientales y la percepción de marca ecológica impactan sustancialmente la satisfacción del consumidor en línea y las decisiones de compra en la industria hotelera. El estudio destaca el impacto positivo de los certificados medioambientales en la decisión de los clientes de elegir hoteles ecológicos. Además, destaca la importancia de la gestión del talento en la industria turística e identifica la discriminación como un factor que influye en los recursos humanos. El análisis bibliométrico y de redes del estudio revela que los certificados ambientales pueden ser una herramienta crucial para promover el turismo sostenible y mitigar el impacto ambiental negativo de la industria. Sin embargo, enfatiza la necesidad de una mayor estandarización y transparencia en el proceso de certificación para mantener la credibilidad y el valor de estos certificados. La investigación concluye destacando la creciente popularidad de los alojamientos ecológicos, y la mayoría de los viajeros de todo el mundo expresan su intención de elegir alojamientos ecológicos. Los consumidores están dispuestos a gastar más en hoteles que cumplen las normas medioambientales, y las certificaciones reconocidas como LEED o Green Key tienen una influencia más significativa en los clientes en comparación con certificaciones menos conocidas o de menor nivel. Las implicaciones del estudio se extienden a la industria del turismo y a las empresas que buscan atraer clientes ambientalmente conscientes, sugiriendo que los hoteles deberían seleccionar cuidadosamente los certificados ambientales y considerar las características demográficas de sus clientes objetivo en los esfuerzos de promoción. Finalmente, sugiere posibles vías para futuras investigaciones, como explorar el impacto de las certificaciones ambientales en la satisfacción y lealtad del cliente en la industria hotelera. / [CA] La tesi doctoral explora la influència dels certificats d'hotels ecològics en les decisions de compra dels clients en línia en el context del creixent enfocament de la indústria hotelera en la sostenibilitat. L'estudi té com a objectiu investigar les actituds dels clients cap als certificats verds, examinant el coneixement, la comprensió i la confiança en aquestes credencials. També explora si la presència de certificats verds afecta les intencions dels clients de reservar un hotel i la seua disposició a pagar una prima per allotjaments respectuosos amb el medi ambient. A més, la investigació busca identificar factors que medien o regulen la relació entre els certificats verds i les decisions de compra dels clients, incloses dades demogràfiques, creences ambientals i qualificacions de ressenyes en línia. Les troballes indiquen que la consciència ambiental està impulsant la demanda de productes i serveis ecològics, i les certificacions ecològiques són un important factor de motivació perquè els clients paguen més per allotjar-se en hotels ecològics. Els *millennials, en particular, mostren una disposició a pagar més per hotels que adopten pràctiques ecològiques. L'estudi també assenyala una tendència en la qual un percentatge considerable de viatgers expressa el seu suport als hotels ecològics i està disposat a gastar més en allotjaments respectuosos amb el medi ambient . La investigació suggereix que les certificacions ecològiques, les consideracions ambientals i la percepció de marca ecològica impacten substancialment la satisfacció del consumidor en línia i les decisions de compra en la indústria hotelera. L'estudi destaca l'impacte positiu dels certificats mediambientals en la decisió dels clients de triar hotels ecològics. A més, destaca la importància de la gestió del talent en la indústria turística i identifica la discriminació com un factor que influeix en els recursos humans. L'anàlisi bibliomètrica i de xarxes de l'estudi revela que els certificats ambientals poden ser una eina crucial per a promoure el turisme sostenible i mitigar l'impacte ambiental negatiu de la indústria. No obstant això, emfatitza la necessitat d'una major estandardització i transparència en el procés de certificació per a mantindre la credibilitat i el valor d'aquests certificats. La investigació conclou destacant la creixent popularitat dels allotjaments ecològics, i la majoria dels viatgers de tot el món expressen la seua intenció de triar allotjaments ecològics. Els consumidors estan disposats a gastar més en hotels que compleixen les normes mediambientals, i les certificacions reconegudes com *LEED o Green *Key tenen una influència més significativa en els clients en comparació amb certificacions menys conegudes o de menor nivell. Les implicacions de l'estudi s'estenen a la indústria del turisme i a les empreses que busquen atraure clients ambientalment conscients, suggerint que els hotels haurien de seleccionar acuradament els certificats ambientals i considerar les característiques demogràfiques dels seus clients objectiu en els esforços de promoció. Finalment, suggereix possibles vies per a futures investigacions, com explorar l'impacte de les certificacions ambientals en la satisfacció i lleialtat del client en la indústria hotelera. / [EN] The PhD thesis explores the influence of green hotel certificates on online customers' purchasing decisions in the context of the hospitality industry's growing focus on sustainability. The study aims to investigate customers' attitudes towards green certificates, examining awareness, comprehension, and trust in these credentials. It also explores whether the presence of green certificates affects customers' intentions to book a hotel and their willingness to pay a premium for environmentally friendly accommodations. Additionally, the research seeks to identify factors that mediate or regulate the relationship between green certificates and customers' purchasing decisions, including demographics, environmental beliefs, and online review ratings. The findings indicate that environmental awareness is driving a demand for green products and services, and eco-certifications are a significant motivating factor for customers to pay extra for staying in green hotels. Millennials, in particular, show a willingness to pay more for hotels adopting green practices. The study also notes a trend where a considerable percentage of travelers express support for green hotels and are willing to spend more on environmentally friendly accommodations. The research suggests that green certifications, environmental considerations, and green brand perception substantially impact online consumer satisfaction and purchasing decisions in the hotel industry. The study emphasizes the positive impact of environmental certificates on customers' decisions to choose green hotels. Furthermore, it highlights the importance of talent management in the tourism industry and identifies discrimination as a factor influencing human resources. The study's bibliometric and network analysis reveals that environmental certificates can be a crucial tool for promoting sustainable tourism and mitigating the industry's negative environmental impact. However, it emphasizes the need for greater standardization and transparency in the certification process to maintain the credibility and value of these certificates. The research concludes by stressing the increasing popularity of green lodging, with a majority of global travelers expressing an intention to choose eco-friendly accommodations. Consumers are willing to spend extra on hotels that adhere to environmental rules, and recognized certifications like LEED or Green Key have a more significant influence on customers compared to less-known or lower-standard certifications. The study's implications extend to the tourism industry and businesses aiming to attract environmentally conscious customers, suggesting that hotels should carefully select environmental certificates and consider the demographic characteristics of their target customers in promotional efforts. Finally, it suggests potential avenues for future research, such as exploring the impact of environmental certifications on customer satisfaction and loyalty in the hotel industry. / Qubbaj, AIS. (2024). The Effect of Environmental Certificates for Hotels on the Purchasing Decision of Online Customers [Tesis doctoral]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/204631 / Compendio