Greek Consumers’ Awareness and Perceptions for Green Hotels and Green Furniture

Abstract

During the last years, several researches have shown that a significant group of hotel visitors with increased environmental awareness, prefer the so called “green hotels” for their accommodation. The aim of this prototype research was the collection of information and opinions of Greek consumers regarding green hotels and eco-furniture, studying the awareness of the consumers on the specific institution and meaning as well as their intension and acceptance in selecting such a hotel for their accommodation. The green hotels movement has been a growing industry in Europe and the U.S., but it is the first effort to study the potential those hotels to be equipped with green furniture. For the purposes of this study, which was conducted during 2016, we used a specially constructed questionnaire which was filled by 304 Greek consumers. We used personal interviews as well as electronic docs.google with the help of social media and mainly Facebook. Results have shown that only 6% of the Greek consumers know the meaning of green hotels very well, while the majority (58%) heard it for the first time through this specific study. While the majority of the Greek consumers consider the institution of the green hotels as quite significant, however more than 88% of them have never stayed in a green hotel and the rest stated that they have stayed 2–3 times. In general, there is an intention to pay a 5–10% more for a green hotel instead of a conventional one, among the people surveyed. Furthermore, they believe, at a percentage of 98%, that it is necessary for a green hotel to be equipped with ecological furniture and wooden constructions. The Greek consumers’ target-group, for green hotels equipped also with green furniture, consists of those with relatively higher income, while the support of this institution is independent from the income, educational level, age and sex of the respondents. © 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.