The Effect of Environmentally Sustainable Practices on Hotel Guests’ Satisfaction and Retention

Abstract

It is not unexpected that hotel guests are now demanding for products and services that are. environmentally friendly following the increased awareness of the importance of environmental sustainability. Accordingly, many hotels’ management are working hard to adopt and implement environmentally sustainable practices. However, empirical data on the existence of positive impact of hotels' "environmental" practices on guests’ satisfaction and retention, is still surprisingly scarce in Adamawa state, Nigeria, despite global concern on environmental degradation. Descriptive research design was used through structured questionnaire approach. Simple random sampling technique was employed to select a sample size of 400 respondents from the selected hotels. Out of the 400 copies of questionnaire administered, 177 copies were properly filled. Data elicited were analysed with the use of descriptive and inferential statistics. The study found that environmentally sustainable practices has a significant effect on guests’ satisfaction and retention based on the result obtained (p<0.05, β= 17. 0.616). Hence, the adoption and implementation of environmentally sustainable practices in the study area is essential for hotels daily operations as a strategy to improve hotel competitive image and increase guests’ satisfaction. The value in the study lies in that the availability of sustainable practices policy in hotels is key to mitigate the impact of industrial activities on the environment.

Keywords

• environmental practices
• guest retention
• customer satisfaction
• sustainable practices
• hotel