ESG management of hotel brands: A management strategy for benefits and performance

A noticeable research gap exists in the current landscape, which is where the significance of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) principles is on the rise, in regards to exploring ESG within the hotel sector. A limited number of studies developed ESG hotel attributes and investigated comprehensive marketing considerations, which include ESG activities and the branding of hotels. This study addressed this gap by qualitatively developing 11 ESG attributes and constructing an integrated model in order to examine their impact on hotel brands. The subsequent quantitative analysis corroborated the positive influence of ESG attributes on hotel brand benefits, price premiums, and brand choice. This study significantly contributes by extending the ESG research to the hotel industry by offering valuable insights for hotel practitioners about the concept of ESG hotels and suggesting new directions for ESG activities.