SHERIDAN, WYOMING – Feb. 28, 2025 – Accor, Booking.com, and the University of Surrey have released a groundbreaking report detailing the motivations of sustainable travelers and offering crucial insights into optimizing communication strategies to encourage eco-friendly behaviors. This research, aimed at bridging the gap between intention and action, highlights the importance of clear, specific messaging to overcome traveler skepticism and promote sustainable practices in the hospitality industry.
Understanding Traveler Motivations
The report underscores that sustainable travel is a significant priority for modern travelers. According to Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report 2024, “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.” This clear impetus for positive change necessitates that hotels align their practices and communications with guests’ values and expectations.
Key Recommendations for Optimizing Guest Messaging
Drawing from extensive lab research and interviews with global travelers, the report outlines four key recommendations for optimizing guest messaging:
Highlighting Sustainability Practices with Specificity
“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.’” The study found that detailed messaging, such as explaining how guests can contribute to reducing food waste, significantly reduces skepticism. For instance, “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 emphasizes the need for hotels to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability through transparent and focused messages.
Balancing Pleasure and Comfort with Sustainability
Travelers often associate sustainable choices with restricted and less enjoyable experiences. To counter 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.” The research indicates that “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.”
Empowering Guests Through Informed Choices
“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.’” Hotels should adopt a tone that encourages informed choices without pressure. Providing information about local sustainable options, such as public transport schedules, positions guests as active participants in sustainability efforts.
Encouraging Home-Like Sustainable Habits
“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 and trust is essential. “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.”
Research Methodology and Insights
The research was conducted in two phases, combining qualitative and quantitative data. The first phase involved interviews and diary studies with travelers from the United States, Germany, France, and India, focusing on their expectations and experiences related to sustainable travel. The second phase, conducted at the University of Surrey’s Human Insight Lab, utilized advanced technologies like eye tracking, galvanic skin responses, and facial analysis software to analyze emotional and physiological responses to various sustainability messages.
“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,” stated the report.
Industry Perspectives
“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,” said Jordane de Villaret, vice president, sustainability marketing and communications, Accor. “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.”
“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,” said Danielle D’Silva, director of sustainability, Booking.com. “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.”
“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,” said Xavier Font, professor of sustainability marketing, University of Surrey. “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.”
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