The prominence of environmental concern as a factor in the choice of hotels: The case of recent lodgers from the top three (3) green hotels in the Philippines

• Main Authors: Acedera, Nicanor Kristann F., Ang, John Timothy L., Barja, Patricia Grace Anne L., Pabalan, Joanne Marie Grace P.
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 2013
• Subjects: Business Administration, Management, and Operations
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/17940
• Institution: De La Salle University

This study aims to determine the prominence of environmental concern in the choice of hotels of the recent lodgers from the top three (3) green hotels in the Philippines, namely, Sofitel Philippine Plaza, Makati Shangri-La Hotel, and Edsa Shangri-La Hotel. A total of 123 respondents were purposively surveyed online and manually to satisfy the sampling parameters the study necessitates. A minimum 35 respondents of different gender, educational attainment, and levels of income from the 3 hotels were asked to participate in the study. The newly surfaced factor, environmental concern, was compared with the five (5) other apparent hotel attributes that were seen to directly impact the hotel purchase decision process of lodgers. Despite its increasing prominence as a factor in the choice of hotels in previous studies, results showed that the lodgers in the Philippine context were still practical in choosing hotels which focused more on the hotel attributes that directly affect the hotel experience with Service Quality garnering the most priority. Other factors that followed were (2) Amenities and Facilities, (3) Cost, (4) Location, and (5) Hotel Reputation accordingly. Environmental Programs as a hotel attribute ranked last and was the least prioritized factor. In spite of the seemingly low priority given to environmental programmes, the researchers look into the level of environmental concern to determine whether it is consistent with this phenomenon. The growing consumer environmental concern is affected by different dimensions namely affective, cognitive, and dispositional. With the data gathered by the researchers, it is evident that the respondents have high levels of affective and dispositional aspects. Hence, their cognitive aspects are low. Despite the fact that consumers have the knowledge on environmental issues, this knowledge can further be developed and improved if the cognitive dimension is given much attention. In order to segregate those with high environmental concern and those with low environmental concern, a consumer profile of the niche market consisting of environmentally concerned lodgers must be established. The demographic characteristics matter when it comes to the level of environmental concern due to their level of knowledge and awareness on environmental issues. However, when it comes to the importance given to environmental programs, it is yet to be relevant and prioritized. These demographic characteristics, gender, income and educational attainment do not matter.