Motivations for hotels to undertake pro-ecological activities – opinions of hotel guests

Abstract

The cognitive objective of this paper is to assess the motives driving hotel owners and managers to implement environmentally friendly actions from the perspective of hotel guests. The empirical aim of the study materialises through investigations conducted on a sample of 1317 hotel guests in four provincial cities in Poland: Warsaw, Cracow, Wroclaw, and Opole. The study encompassed guests of six hotels classified as three-star establishments. The research methodology employed herein is a diagnostic survey using a questionnaire designed by the authors of this study. The survey was conducted between June and September 2021. In the concluding section of the paper, the analysis of the research allows for the formulation of conclusions. Among these conclusions, a notable observation is the assertion that guests have a remarkably low awareness regarding the impact of hotels on the natural environment. This finding contradicts the more optimistic assessments of such awareness that are found in various works within the field of hospitality. According to the authors, this conclusion could form the basis for educational initiatives and the initiation of mechanisms, including economic ones, aimed at elevating the knowledge level in this domain, not solely among hotel guests but also, perhaps predominantly, among hotel proprietors and managers. Nevertheless, the authors of this paper are cognizant of the exploratory nature of the conducted study, which may serve as a convenient foundation for subsequent, more in-depth investigations, particularly focusing on expanding the array of applied methodologies, significantly increasing the research sample size, and considering a broader range of respondent characteristics in the research.