Biophilic design for urban hotels – prospective hospitality employees’ perspectives

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate a holistic way of incorporating biophilic building design that creates a restorative environment attractive to prospective urban hotel employees. This study additionally examines the role of perceived well-being from nature attributes and associated impacts on emotions and likelihood to choose to work for a hotel with nature attributes. Design/methodology/approach This study used a conjoint analysis to detect the most resotrative individual and combinations of biophilic attributes that can improve employee well-being. In addition, nature attributes influence on emotions and intentions to work for a hotel were analyzed. Findings Results showed that not all nature attributes are equally evaluated by urban hotel prospective employees. In this study, the authors found that natural lighting, outdoor green views and indoor landscaping are important factors in the evaluation of an urban hotel with biophilic features. However, this tendency varies when the sample was divided by prospective employees’ who perceived higher or lower levels of well-being would be influenced by nature attributes. Originality/value Unlike previous studies, the authors tested a multiattribute design and results demonstrate the perceived restorative effect of nature attributes in an environment on prospective employees. In addition to extending the biophilic design in hospitality literature, the authors provide practical suggestions to urban hotels incorporating biophilic design and propose that specific elements have the propensity to enhance the well-being of prospective employees and reinforce positive emotions and intentions to work for urban hotels that incorporate them.