Accor, Booking.com, and the University of Surrey published a report based on research aimed at understanding and addressing traveler motivations when it comes to making more sustainable decisions during their stay. This initiative has been driven by an understanding that guests play a critical role in the efficacy and efficiency of sustainability initiatives. However, there can be a high level of skepticism among travelers when it comes to their role in those efforts. The research made clear the contribution messaging plays in motivating more sustainable behaviors, a component in the continued development of sustainability practices within the industry. This whitepaper provides a reference point about guests, helping to address hospitality’s shared challenges when it comes to bridging the intent to action gap of many travelers.
Traveling more sustainably is a priority for many travelers, with 83 percent saying that sustainable travel is important to them, and 67 percent saying they are inspired to adopt more sustainable behaviors after witnessing responsible practices, according to Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report 2024. The impetus for making positive change is therefore clear to remain aligned with guests’ values and expectations.
Drawing on lab research and interviews with global travelers to identify common issues and misconceptions when it comes to sustainability communications, the report provides four recommendations to optimize guest messaging to promote more sustainable practices:
- Highlight sustainability practices—including for less sustainable amenities—and show how guests can contribute: A takeaway from the research was the importance of providing clear, specific information about sustainability practices and avoiding big claims such as “eco-friendly” or “green.” An example from the study was that messaging that helped the guest understand their part in reducing food waste was found to reduce levels of skepticism from 46 percent to 21 percent compared to more generic and vague messaging. This shows the importance for hotels to demonstrate they are playing their part to address sustainability issues, with specific and focused messages crucial to better engaging guests.
- Balance appeals to pleasure and comfort for optimal results: Interviews conducted with travelers highlighted the fact that it can feel difficult to have a positive trip while making more sustainable decisions. Many travelers associate the notion of sustainability with more restricted and less enjoyable experiences. To overcome this, hotels should balance sustainability messages around both pleasure and comfort, highlighting options which are both enjoyable and sustainable, such as scenic train rides or local culinary experiences. Sustainability messages that focus on comfort or pleasure were found to increase feelings of satisfaction and joy by 145 percent and 475 percent respectively, over examples of existing messaging being used.
- Empower guests, don’t constrain or dictate to them: The research indicates that guests prefer an empowering approach to sustainability communications rather than feeling dictated to, with 55 percent reporting feeling skeptical toward assertive messages such as “limit your water use.” As such, hotels should adopt a tone that encourages guests to make informed choices without pressure. By sharing knowledge about local sustainable options—like public transport schedules—hotels can position guests as active participants in sustainability efforts.
- Help guests act as responsibly as they do at home: The final takeaway is that many travelers wish to maintain their sustainable habits while away from home, but hotel processes and operations can often make them feel constrained in doing so. Messaging that evokes familiarity, trust, and care is important to ensuring sustainable actions remain intuitive, helping guests feel more connected to their surroundings and encouraging repeat visits. In particular, messages that seek to create a sense of home were perceived as twice as responsible as messaging currently in use, and reduced skepticism to more than half of current levels.
These insights were gathered following a two-phase research exercise, which gathered quantitative and qualitative data from numerous surveys and lab-based behavioral experiments.
The first phase of this research involved 24 in-depth interviews with 100 guests from the United States, Germany, France, and India, focusing on their expectations regarding sustainability and its influence on booking decisions. After these interviews, Booking.com’s research team followed 22 guests from the same countries via a diary study covering the planning, booking, and traveling phases of their trips. This aimed to understand what role sustainability played at each stage and to capture the highs and lows of their stay through the lens of sustainability.
Benefitting from the University of Surrey’s academic resources, the second research phase was then able to provide deeper insights based on behavioral research from Surrey’s Human Insight Lab. This research looked at the emotional and physiological responses of nearly 70 customers presented with different sets of sustainability messages, using technologies such as eye tracking, galvanic skin responses, and facial analysis software. The researchers also conducted interviews with the same set of customers, employing advanced psychological approaches through projective techniques. These methods enabled them to gain deeper insights into customer experience by tapping into subconscious responses. Combined with sensor data from three technologies, these techniques provided insights for the industry. These findings will support the industry in enhancing positive customer experiences and driving sustainable behavior change, ultimately leading to long-term customer loyalty and improved environmental outcomes.
“Creating more sustainable hospitality experiences is a journey of learning and humility. At Accor, with over 40 brands, we’re excited to set new marketing standards to make sustainability messaging clearer and more impactful. Too often, these communications are vague, leaving brand leaders without practical guidance. Our partnership with Booking.com and the University of Surrey aims to equip marketing and communication experts with actionable insights that truly engage guests in our hotels’ impact journey. By sharing this work openly, we hope to inspire both global brands and independent properties to craft compelling narratives that empower guests to be part of the change,” said Jordane de Villaret, vice president, sustainability marketing and communications, Accor.
“Many hospitality providers are making great strides in their sustainability journeys. However, they still meet a number of challenges. Engaging travelers on the efforts they are making is one of them, and the cooperation of guests can be vital to the efficacy of many sustainability practices. At Booking.com, we’re committed to collaborating with partners across the industry to help overcome the various barriers hospitality providers face. The aim of our collaboration with Accor and the University of Surrey is to enable more hospitality providers to optimize the impact of their sustainability efforts and positively influence traveler behavior towards embracing more sustainable actions and choices,” said Danielle D’Silva, director of sustainability, Booking.com.
“At the University of Surrey, we are committed to advancing research that drives meaningful change. Through our collaboration with Accor and Booking.com, we apply cutting-edge behavioral insights to understand how sustainability messaging can better engage guests and influence decision-making. By combining academic rigor with industry expertise, this research provides hospitality professionals with evidence-based strategies to make sustainable travel more intuitive, impactful, and actionable,” said Xavier Font, professor of sustainability marketing, University of Surrey.
