How Much Are Consumers Willing to Pay for a Greener Hotel Industry? A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

This work uses the systematic literature review (SLR) method to explore the premium that consumers would be willing to pay to stay at a green hotel. To the best of the author’s knowledge, it is the first review on this topic and, thus, fills a gap in the existing literature. The search process identified 22 articles from 13 countries which were analyzed to explore three principal research questions regarding the valuation methods used to estimate the premium, the size of the premium, and the factors affecting the premium. From a policy perspective, the analysis shows that the lack of studies on the topic is a serious obstacle to the hotel sector’s efforts to reduce its environmental footprint. From a managerial perspective, it is argued that consumers who are willing to pay to stay at green hotels would accept a premium of around 5%. Finally, from an estimation perspective, the analysis highlights specific gaps in and limitations of current studies that should be considered in future research efforts relating to the geographical coverage, accommodation type, factors affecting the premium that hotel customers would pay for green initiatives, and certain methodological issues, among others.