Sustainable Tourism in the Post-COVID-19 Era: Investigating the Effect of Green Practices on Hotels Attributes and Customer Preferences in Budapest, Hungary

Abstract

Environmental practices have become an important matter in all aspects of life and industries, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. However, these practices continue to face many criticisms about their seriousness and effectiveness. In this context, this study aims to analyze the relationship between adopting green practices in hotels on one side and hotel image, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty on the other side, considering the star-level rating system of the hotels and the hotel operating categories (chain or independent). This study depended on a sample of 235 hotels in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Several analytical methods were used to achieve the study aim, including descriptive statistics, t-test, arithmetic averages comparison, text mining, NLP, and sentiment analysis. This study revealed that: (I) The higher the hotel star rank, the better the reviews and valuation factors. (II) Hotels that operate in chains show more attention to environmental practices. (III) Customers are more loyal to and satisfied with green hotels, and this increases as the hotel’s star rating increases.

1. Introduction

In recent years, sustainable tourism has been considered a core pillar in the global tourism industry’s agendas [1,2]. Although up-to-date tourism approaches, such as regenerative tourism, are highlighted in the global tourism stage, sustainable tourism is still the cornerstone of the various tourism projects worldwide [3,4]. The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) defines sustainable tourism as tourism activities that take into account the various environmental, economic, and social effects of tourism activities and practices on natural resources [5]. Additionally, sustainable tourism continuously tries to balance and reconcile human needs (individuals or institutions) and the preservation of different natural resources in tourism areas or regions [6].

As a result of the increase in climatic changes, the exaggerated negative effects of human activities on the environment, and the growing global awareness of the importance of respecting the environment, the concept of sustainable tourism has grown and become an attractive factor for the various tourism industry elements, including hotels [7,8]. Hence, various ways and methods have sprung up and catalyzed hotels, one of the most significant physical constructions in the tourism industry, to achieve sustainability. Green initiatives/attributes were one of the catalysts that attracted hotel owners as service providers to transform their hotels into eco-friendly buildings [9]. This was considered a strategic step and a big move toward improving the public image of hotels in the 21st century. Additionally, the catastrophe of the COVID-19 pandemic and its grave consequences for the tourism sector accelerated the pace of the application of green practices in hotel management and operation [10,11].

Environmental certificates, also known as ecolabels or green awards, are one of the most prominent and official documents indicating that hotels apply green practices [12]. It is a means to improve the public image of hotels, as well as announce the transformation that has taken place. These certificates are issued by a highly reliable third party and given to hotels that achieve sustainability standards [13,14,15]. Environmental certificates can be officially defined as a set of confirmations issued by an independent third-party auditor that a facility, product, process, or service achieves several predetermined environmental standards from the party issuing the certificate, where compliance and application of these standards are voluntary and optional [16,17]. Due to several factors, the importance of obtaining environmental certificates may vary between hotels according to their size and star ratings. The most important factors are ability and financial efficiency [16,18]. This financial factor is reflected in room prices, as each price level attracts different kinds of customers. For example, low-ranked hotels (i.e., unranked, one- or two-star hotels) often do not seek such certificates because the cost will be reflected in the service prices, and therefore, they will lose their privilege and their current budget-minded customers. Applying these environmental principles in high-ranked luxury hotels (i.e., five-, six-, or seven-star hotels) is achievable, as competitive factors are considered the main priority, especially for famous hotel chains. In middle-class hotels (i.e., three- or four-star hotels), the situation is intermediate (in-between). On the one hand, obtaining these environmental certificates is considered a distinctive asset for the hotel and distinguishes them from the lower-ranked hotels (i.e., 2 stars). On the other hand, applying these eco-principles will affect accommodation prices. Although there are increases in the accommodation prices in these hotels, customers can notice the difference between the green hotels and traditional ones because of the uncomplicated services, which makes the cost of these environmental/sustainability standards can be handled by hotel management [18].

2. Research Gap

The enriched literature in this scientific area has indicated that the application of sustainability standards in hotels (at different levels) to obtain environmental certificates has many supporters and opponents. The first category (supporters) considers that applying environmental practices will positively impact a hotel’s image, value, and profit [12,18,19]. The second category (opponents) considers that this will become a physical and moral load on hotels and their owners and may cause negative consequences on the hotel’s performance and is not worth it [16]. Therefore, some studies have indicated the positives of adopting environmental practices at different hotel levels, while others have conflicted with them.

From a favorable perspective, many international hotel chains have launched their own environmental programs. For example, the IHG Hotel Chain in its sustainable action plan announced its practices to achieve the environmental sustainability principles. Additionally, the Marriott International Hotel Chain has reaffirmed its commitments to environmental protection and resource conservation. Thus, major hotels recognize the importance of environmental practices in influencing their competitive position in the market [20,21]. Accordingly, hotels’ application of environmental initiatives will significantly affect customer preferences regarding hotel selection. Additionally, implementing these environmental standards would improve financial performance resulting from cost reduction, improved operational processes, increased hotel turnout [19], and improved both operational and environmental performances [13,14].

From the opposition perspective, customers may not necessarily act in conformity with their environmental concerns [22]. Some customers also translate environmental initiatives as nothing more than a promotional tool used by hotels, while there is no actual implementation of them on the ground [23,24]. Additionally, the application of environmental practices entails additional costs reflected in the prices of the services provided that create price sensitivity for a large segment of customers [25]. Subsequently, seeking to apply environmental practices in hotels may have a negative impact on customers’ perceptions of the quality of various provided services [26].

Based on that, this study aims to remove the ambiguity and determine if environmental practices will affect hotel attributes (e.g., hotel rating and hotel image) and customer preferences (e.g., customer satisfaction and customer loyalty) positively or not. This will be achieved by evaluating customers’ personal experience of the performance level of the hotels in the selected case study (Budapest) and reflecting this on their satisfaction, loyalty, and intention to repeat the experience.

3. Literature Review and Hypotheses

3.1. Environmental Certificates and Practices and Hotel’ Image

This sub-section discusses the relationship between obtaining environmental certificates and hotel levels (i.e., Hotel Star Rating System and chain or independent). As mentioned before, there are two perspectives to see the effect of environmental certificates on hotels. On the one side, some believe that environmental certificates improve the overall image of the hotel, as they are issued by a third party after auditing the operations of the hotel and ensuring that they comply with the standards of the environmental certificate. The adoption of standards for the environmental certificate leads to cost savings as a result of reducing waste and the planned and deliberate use of various resources [27,28], which in turn achieves a competitive advantage for the hotel in general and at the economic level in particular [28]. The results of the study by Segarra-Oña in 2012, which was based on a comparison of the financial statements of several hotels in Spain, revealed that hotels that had environmental certificates (ISO 14001) [29] had better financial performance than their non-environmental certificate counterparts [27]. However, that was a subject of rebuttal, as this study looked at the costs of obtaining these certificates, which is considered a large initial investment that major hotel chains and hotels are able to secure them easily compared to smaller hotels owned by families [16]. In another study that investigated hotels in the British capital, London, the findings indicated that 70% of the five-star hotels have environmental certificates, while this percentage fell to 42% for the four-star hotels and 35% for the three-star hotels [16]. The study stated that most of the hotels in London belong to hotel chains and international multinational companies. Accordingly, these hotels adopt unified standards and objectives at the level of the chain by the main management, such as environmental issues, provision of resources, energy, water, and social support. However, the implementation and the mechanism of achieving these goals for each hotel was a task of each hotel depending on its location and surrounding competitors.

On the other side, some hotels, such as medium- or low-ranked hotels (e.g., three-star hotels), did not attach importance to environmental practices and certificates, as their customers are only interested in basic services and are sensitive to prices. Therefore, there is no interest in environmental practices due to their high costs, which cannot bear the cost of issuing and ratifying the certificate. In all cases, it will be reflected in the prices of the services provided, which leads to a negative reaction from the customers [16]. In a study conducted by Long-Fei Chen on hotels in Taiwan, the findings revealed that hotels within international chains have better economic performance, achieving better results in terms of a low-carbon economy and reliance on environmental certifications more than hotels that operate independently [30]. Accordingly, the following two hypotheses can be developed as follows:

H1. 

Chain and international hotels are more interested in implementing environmentally friendly businesses than independently operated hotels.

H2. 

The higher the hotel stars’ level, the higher the application of environmental practices and standards.

3.2. Environmental Certificates and Practices’ Effects on Hotels’ Image

Adherence to environmental practices improves hotels’ financial performance [27,31,32]. Despite progress in adopting environmentally friendly practices in hotels, the most effective ways to promote environmental practices are still not directly clear. Consequently, the importance of obtaining environmental certificates has been increased as a way to prove the hotels’ commitment to clear and specific eco-standards; most importantly, this commitment is evaluated by a third party [18,33,34]. Obtaining environmental certificates gives the hotel several basic advantages by following and applying the standards and requirements demanded by the certificate. This leads to improvements at the internal and operational levels [28], in addition to improving the financial performance of the hotel as a result of reducing waste and the planned use of resources [27]. All the privileges that the hotels gained from applying such environmentally green criteria lead to an improvement in the marketing and public image of the hotel [35,36]. This improvement in the hotel’s image is supported by the fact that audits are carried out by a third party, which removes suspicions among customers.

The transformation in the relationship between eco-hotels and the image of the hotel is really interesting. Green practices, which are a core element in improving the hotel’s image nowadays, became more influential and accepted by customers after it was a source of doubt. These green practices are now considered one of the positive signs that reflect the performance level of the hotel [18]. For example, a study done by D’Souza reflected the customers’ preferences for several hotels in Australia based on the hotel image and their environmental practices on them [37]. Another study indicated that the adoption of green practices in hotels reflects a positive image among customers of the hotel’s performance, which increases customer satisfaction and catalysts the hotel to apply these green practices [38].

Based on that, environmental certificates are not only a source of distinction among hotels but can also be considered an important means of raising customers’ awareness of the environment and highlighting the efforts made by hotels to protect the environment [32,39]. Additionally, environmental certificates are one means of marketing and informing customers that the hotel is operating on an environmentally friendly basis [18]. Therefore, we hypothesize that:

H3a. 

The image and evaluation of eco-hotels are generally more positive than those of traditional hotels.

H3b. 

The image and evaluation of eco-hotels are generally increased according to the hotel star rating category compared to non-environmental hotels.

3.3. Eco-Hotels vs. Customer Satisfaction

In their study to investigate customer satisfaction in some Spanish hotels, Peiró-Signes and his research team found that eco-certified hotels show a higher level of service, comfort, cleanliness, and a higher rating by customers, which reflects satisfaction with the experience, even with the fact that room price rates in green Spanish hotels are higher than in non-eco hotels [18]. In other words, the application of green practices and the adoption of the environmental certificate create value that exceeds the price cost that customers did not regret paying to experience the eco-hotels [18]. Therefore, the hotels that obtained environmental certificates achieved a competitive advantage that the traditional hotels did not achieve. In addition, this study announced that the existence of environmental certifications or the adoption of an environmental management system and practices is a significant criterion to guide purchasing decisions for customers concerned about environmental issues [39,40].

Additionally, Apostolakis and his colleagues in their study on Crete island in Greece entitled “Examination of Individual Preferences for Green Hotels in Crete” indicated that tourists prefer hotels that use energy-saving devices, such as smart windows, and they are willing to pay extra for them [41]. The study also showed that the tourists had an interest in implementing the waste management system in the hotel, as they declared that they have environmental concerns about the way waste is treated and disposed of. Consequently, the lack of an eco-friendly waste management system reduced customers’ willingness to pay for staying in these hotels, while they were willing to pay extra to stay in hotels that implemented environmental management systems (EMS) for waste management and recycling. The water management policy was also one of the environmental management policies that garbed great importance. Tourists expressed the desire to pay more for staying in hotels that implement a water management system, as tourists realize the special importance of this resource [42,43].

In another study, which included several hotels in the city of Gili Trawangan in Indonesia, the average percentage of tourists willing to pay an additional amount for hotels that adopt environmental labels was approximately 72% [44]. This percentage decreased with an increase in room prices. Thus, the percentage of willingness to pay more to stay in hotels that apply environmental standards was 92% when the price of a room was 10,000 rupees. This percentage decreased to 89% at the price of 20,000 rupees/room, and the ratio reached 61% at the price of 100,000 rupees/room [44]. This study highlighted the high levels of tourist satisfaction with eco-hotels, but up to a certain point (critical point) where the accommodation price factor becomes the dominant factor in this equation. Accordingly, the following hypothesis can be developed as follows:

H4a. 

Customer satisfaction increased more in the eco-hotels than in other traditional ones.

H4b. 

Customer satisfaction increased in the eco-hotels according to the hotel star rating category compared to non-environmental hotels.

3.4. Eco-Hotels vs. Customer Loyalty

Currently, there is an increasing interest in activities and events related to environmental protection, which is reflected in the preference for purchasing green products and services [45,46]. Obtaining an environmental certificate enhances the preferences of customers when choosing the hotels that obtain it [47]. The success and continuity of the hotel business are achieved by satisfying customers, whereby customers pay a value for a specific level of service that customers can measure through experience [48]. Customers’ loyalty to hotels that follow green management systems is achieved if the concept of green service is accompanied by providing good quality services, even if it is at slightly higher costs. Believing that the green initiatives undertaken by these hotels will reduce the negative impacts of human activities on the environment and that they will be part of it [42,49,50]. Customers expect green hotels to provide services or perform certain environmental procedures. In the absence of such procedures, this can reduce customer loyalty, as the presence of these procedures will greatly affect the positive evaluation of the hotel’s green practices. Additionally, customers may not see that the hotel depends on its energy resources and clean energy sources, and this does not increase customer loyalty because it is not tangible to them [51].

Loyalty is the most positive factor that reflects how happy customers are with the hotel services they have received, as the customer experience and loyalty drive them to replicate the experience if it meets their expectations. They also publish their experiences in their surroundings and provide positive recommendations that push their communities to experience as well [52,53], and thus the relationship between environmental practices and loyalty is positive [49,50,54,55]. Some green practices affect the intention of customers to re-visit and recommend others to book and come to the green hotel, as these practices have changed the way services are provided and touch customers directly. For example, using devices with low energy consumption or participating in a part of the implementation of the eco-friendly recycling and waste management policy [50,56].

In a study conducted by Mihaela-Simona Moise on several three- and four-star hotels in Valencia, Spain, it was found that green practices and environmental procedures in hotels increase customer satisfaction and loyalty [57]. In addition, applying these green practices must be associated with a level of service and quality not less than the level of services in hotels that do not apply environmental procedures [50]. Based on the foregoing, we thereby hypothesize that:

H5a: 

Hotels that apply environmental standards create a higher level of loyalty than hotels that are not environmental in general.

H5b: 

The level of loyalty increased in the eco-hotels according to the hotel star category compared to non-environmental hotels.

Figure 1 presents the theoretical model and hypotheses of this research, which consisted of 5 main hypotheses and 8 sub-hypotheses.

4. Materials and Methods

4.1. Case Study

In order to prove or disprove the aforementioned research hypotheses, this study investigated the effect of green practices on hotel attributes (e.g., hotel rating and hotel image) and consumer preferences (e.g., satisfaction and loyalty) in a sample of hotels in the Hungarian capital, Budapest. Selecting Budapest as the main case study in this research was based on four main reasons. First, although many studies have addressed the effect of environmental practices on hotels in countries that have witnessed great developments recently, this topic has not received sufficient attention in mentioned countries [44], such as Hungary. Second, Budapest has unique tourism features and standards that make it a relevant case study for this type of research. Budapest is one of the world’s most important tourist destinations and has been declared the best European destination of 2019 [58,59]. Additionally, in Australia’s Lonely Planet Travel rankings, Budapest was ranked globally as the second-best value-for-money travel destination. In 2019, the Hungarian capital was visited by 5.7 million tourists, which represented approximately 36% of the total number of tourists in Hungary [60]. Budapest’s residential and restaurant sectors account for around 2% of the GDP [60]. Additionally, Budapest had a large number of hotels in various star categories, including many international luxury hotels, such as Hilton Hotel, Marriott Hotel, and Four Seasons. Third, Budapest is distinguished in being similar to many European cities in terms of organization [61,62]. It is an old city with dense urban construction without empty urban spaces. Thus, reflecting on hotels limits their ability to adopt green practices appropriately. Budapest’s buildings are outdated in most areas, there are no clean resources for generating energy in hotels, and limited urban spaces have limited the possibility of recycling and using resources, such as water and food [63,64,65,66,67]. Finally, the ability to obtain information and data from the authors was one of these criteria that catalyst the authors to select Budapest as the main case study for this research.

The study aimed to conduct a comparison between hotels that have environmental certificates or explicitly apply environmental standards (green hotels) and hotels that do not publicly show interest or do not have environmental certificates (non-green hotels). The research sample focused on only three categories of hotels (according to the star rating system), which were five-, four- and three-star hotels. The choice of these only categories of hotels to be represented in this study sample was based on a recommendation from the European Hotelstars Union System (an organization that contained 39 associations and 24 European countries), which is that the unranked, one- and two-star hotels almost did not care about applying environmental practices and only focus on the basic facilities and services for budget-minded customers/tourists [68]. The sample used in this study included a total of 235 hotels in Budapest categorized according to the hotel star rating system (18 five-star hotels, 126 four-star hotels, and 91 three-star hotels). This categorization was based on the data extracted from the well-known accommodation website booking.com. Figure 2 depicts the locations of the studied hotels’ sample, as well as the classification of the hotels’ sample depending on two levels: (a) green hotels or non-green hotels, and (b) chain hotels or independent hotels.

4.2. Data Analysis Methods and Techniques

The extracted numerical data was statistically analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 27. A t-test was one of the analytical tools used to analyze the four main factors that evaluate the efficiency of green practices in the hotel sample: cleanness, value, service, and total score. The main aim of this analysis was to identify whether these aforementioned four factors were statistically significant. Additionally, the arithmetic means were calculated to determine which of the hotels achieved better results within the same category and in general.

By using Natural Language Process (NPL) and Text Mining, the nominal data (customers reviews/comments) were analyzed using R programming language. Sentimental analysis was used to identify the feedback of the visitors for each category of the hotels in the sample. The results of this Sentimental Analysis were positive (2 categories), neutral, and negative (2 categories). This study used Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT) as the main sentiment analysis classifier model. BERT is a model for classifying text by computing vector space in natural language. More details about the BERT model can be seen in the TensorFlow open-source machine learning and AI software library [69]. Figure 3 describes the workflow used to conduct the sentiment analysis. Additionally, the arithmetic means were calculated for each hotel category, and the findings were compared statistically to find out which hotels in terms of the category had the best results.

5. Results

5.1. Budapest Hotels: To Green or Not to Green?

According to the details of the environmental certificates obtained by the different hotel categories in the study sample, there were 22 different types of certificates and practices. Some of these environmental certificates were local within Hungary only, and the majority of the hotels obtained more than one certificate.

Table 1. Environmental certificates were obtained from the hotels’ sample.

Environmental Certificate	Frequency
Sustainable Destination [70]	131
TripAdvisor Green Leaders [71]	34
The Planet 21 Programme [72]	14
Mellow Mood Hotels Environmental Certification [73]	10
Danubius Cares [74]	9
ISO 14001 [29]	9
Hungarian Tourism Agency Qualified Partner [78]	9
Eurostars Hotel Company—Seal of Quality [79]	5
Green Engage [75]	3
Fattal Group Sustainability Practices and Standards [80]	2
Serve360 [81]	2
Solar Award [82]	2
Green Globe [76]	1
EcoVadis [83]	1
EarthCheck [77]	1
Hilton Standards [84]	1

presents the details of the environmental certificates and environmental practices applied in the hotels under study. A total of 234 environmental certificates were obtained by Budapest hotels. Regarding international environmental certificates, the most prominent one was the “Sustainable Destination” certificate by Booking.com, which was obtained 131 times by hotels in the sample [70]. This certificate offers an environmental program as part of a deliberate strategy toward achieving environmental sustainability, in cooperation with important partners, such as the UN environment program, UNWTO, and Global Sustainable Tourism Council. The second obtained environmental certificate was the “TripAdvisor Green Leaders” certificate issued by Tripadvisor.com (n = 34). TripAdvisor presents its environmental program and certificate in cooperation with the UN environment program aiming to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) regarding traveling-related business [71]. For the local environmental certificates, the most prominent one was “The Planet 21 Programme”, which was obtained 14 times [72], followed by “Mellow Mood Hotels Environmental” [73] and “Danubius Cares” [74] certificates which have been obtained 10 and 9 times, respectively. Many other well-known and reliable international and local environmental certificates and programs were included in this list, such as “ISO 14001” [29], “Green Engage” [75], “Green Globe” [76] and “EarthCheck” [77].

Table 2. t-test analysis based on the four evaluation factors in the Budapest hotels’ sample.

Evaluation Factors	5-Star Hotels		4-Star Hotels		3-Star Hotels		Total
Cleanliness	0.804	No stat. sig.	0.572	No stat. sig.	0.071	No stat. sig.	0.003	green
Service	0.867	No stat. sig.	0.435	No stat. sig.	0.044	green	0.002	green
Value	0.010	non-green	0.527	No stat. sig.	0.222	No stat. sig.	0.098	No stat. sig.
Total	1.000	No stat. sig.	0.660	No stat. sig.	0.080	No stat. sig.	0.012	green

Bold style is for values which are significant or less than 0.05.

shows the results of the t-test applied to four main evaluation factors of the hotels surveyed and these factors are cleanliness, service, value, and total score. Hotels were divided into three main categories according to the star rating system. The test was applied to all hotels in the sample, regardless of the star category, in order to identify whether the hotel is green or not. According to the t-test results, the “value” evaluation factor was significant (p = 0.01) in the case of non-green five-star hotels. The three-star green hotels achieved a higher level of “service” than the non-green hotels of the same star category (p = 0.04). Moreover, the results for all hotels regardless of the star rating were significant in favor of green hotels “Cleanliness (p = 0.003)”, “Service (p = 0.002)”, and “the Total (p = 0.012)” except for the “value” factor (p = 0.098). The rest of the results of the statistical study did not show any significant results, which means there was no difference between green and non-green hotels.

To analyze the evaluations statistically more clearly, the arithmetic averages of the four evaluation factors were relied upon. Figure 4 shows a detailed comparison between the evaluation factors for green and non-green hotels, after dividing them into main categories according to the star rating system. Overall, the results showed that green hotels received higher ratings for all evaluation factors. Three- and four-star green hotels received better ratings for all evaluation factors. Five-star non-green hotels obtained better ratings, except for the total score, which is consistent with the previously discussed results of the t-test (see Table 2). The finding that the five non-green star hotels received higher ratings than the green ones can be translated by the fact that from the customer’s point of view, green practice applications in hotels have still not reached the value-based-price stage, and the cost of these environmental practices was more than their real value.

Regarding the sentiment analysis,

Table 3. Sentiment analysis for customers’ reviews of Budapest hotels.

		Positive		Neutral	Negative		Total
5-Star Hotels	Green (%)	39.25%	54.17%	3.74%	2.13%	0.71%	100%
	Non-Green (%)	20.24%	70.59%	3.76%	0.94%	4.47%	100%
4-Star Hotels	Green (%)	27.81%	62.13%	3.46%	5.53%	1.07%	100%
	Non-Green (%)	14.17%	66%	11.91%	2.13%	5.79%	100%
3-Star Hotels	Green (%)	20.31%	62.50%	4.38%	10.31%	2.50%	100%
	Non-Green (%)	21.76%	54.92%	12.7%	8.29%	2.33%	100%

shows the results of the analysis of the customers’ textual ratings. These customer reviews were divided into three main categories with five sub-categories (i.e., five score scale +2, +1, 0, −1 and −2). For positive reviews, the first positive level (+1) represents the comments that provided positive feedback. The second positive level (+2) reflects comments that provided higher positive levels, which included re-visit intention or recommendation to stay in the hotel, and this positive level reflects the loyalty and satisfaction of customers. The neutral classification reflects a textual evaluation that contains negative and positive points at the same time. For negative reviews, the first negative level (−1) reflects negative comments and observations made by customers about the hotel. The worst negative level (−2) is the opposite of the second positive level and reflects customers’ unwillingness to return and not recommend staying in the hotel to others.

According to the results of the sentiment analysis for the customer reviews (see Table 3), five-star green hotels were better than non-green hotels in the same category. More than 83% of the total reviews were positive. More importantly, 39.25% of those reviews reflected the intention of customers to revisit and recommend those hotels to others, compared with 20.24% only for non-green hotels from the same level. Moreover, only 0.71% of reviews will not revisit or recommend five-star green hotels, whereas 4.47% of reviews will not be for non-green hotels. The results for four-star green hotels go in the same direction as five-star green hotels, as the positive reviews passed 89% and 27.8% of those reviews show the customers’ interest to revisit or recommend. In the case of four-star non-green hotels, only 14.17% of reviews did. The same was observed for the negative reviews, which reflect the intention of no revisit of recommendation. Of reviews, 1.07% were recorded for four-star green hotels, compared with 5.79% for non-green ones. On the other hand, positive reviews in general for three-star green hotels were better than non-green hotels, with an 8% difference, but with more negative reviews that recorded around 2%. In general, reviews of three-star hotels were close to each other, whether green or non-green.

5.2. Hypotheses Testing

Regarding the response to the proposed research hypotheses, according to Figure 2, hotels that belong to a hotel chain are more environmentally conscious and seek to apply environmental practices. This can be seen by investigating the relationship between green hotels and chain hotels within the different star-level categories. All green hotels in the five-star hotels’ category were part of chain hotels and were not independently operated (n = 12). In the four-star hotels’ category, the chain hotels accounted for about 82% (n = 47) of green hotels as opposed to only 18% (n = 10) of independent hotels. The same pattern was seen in the three-star hotel category, where the green hotels that belong to the chain category were 18 hotels (72%), compared to only 7 green hotels for the independent hotels category (28%). This reflects the capability of chain hotels to apply environmental practices compared to independent ones. Perhaps the main role here is due to the adoption of a unified and universal management system for these hotels, thereby increasing resources and facilitating the implementation of these eco-friendly practices. This is consistent with the first research hypothesis (H1) that “Chain and International hotels are more interested in implementing environmentally friendly businesses than independently-operate hotels”.

Hotels with a higher star rating level show more interest in implementing environmental practices and programs. Within the 235 hotel sample in Budapest, 67% of the five-star hotels were green hotels, and this was the highest among other star hotel categories. Four-star hotels recorded about 45% of their number as green hotels, while this percentage fell to 27% for three-star hotels. In other words, the interest in applying environmental practices in Budapest hotels decreases as the hotel star level decreases. This supported the first hypothesis (H2) that “The higher the hotel stars’ level is, the higher the application of environmental practices and standards”.

Although the hotels’ image reflected by green hotels, in general, was better, especially regarding four-star hotels (see Figure 4), the results (hotels image) were almost identical between green and non-green hotels in other categories, such as five-star hotels, but it was a little bit in favor of non-green hotels. This was clear and statistically significant regarding the evaluation factors for the obtained value (see Table 2). As the cost of the service increased due to applying green procedures, this affected the value of the service provided compared to the cost. These findings confirmed the first sub-hypothesis of the third hypothesis (H3a) that “The image and evaluation of eco-hotels are generally more positive than traditional hotels”, but disproved the second sub-hypothesis of the third hypothesis (H3b) that “The image and evaluation of eco-hotels are generally increased according to the hotel star rating category compared to non-environmental hotels”.

The results also showed that customers’ satisfaction and positive evaluations of green hotels were higher compared to evaluations of the same star level of non-green hotels (see Table 3). However, this did not prevent the existence of a small fraction of negative comments for the green hotels in some hotel star level categories (e.g., three-star hotels). The reasons for such negative feedback were varied, such as some customers thinking that green practices will reduce the level of the services provided due to the use of resources in more planned ways, such as following the policy of reuse and recycling. Additionally, three-star hotel customers are more sensitive to price considerations, even if it might be slightly more in green hotels, but this will leave a negative impression, especially when the green culture is missing. Nevertheless, these results have approved the two sub-hypotheses of the fourth hypothesis, namely (H4a) “Customer satisfaction increased in the eco-hotels more than in other traditional ones” and (H4b) “Customer satisfaction increased in the eco-hotels according to the hotel star rating category compared to non-environmental hotels”.

Regarding customer loyalty, which is represented by the recommendation to visit and the intention to return and re-visit the hotel, the sentiment analysis findings revealed that green hotels perform better and receive more positive reviews than no-green ones (see Table 3). Positive ratings regarding customer loyalty were more obvious for the four- and five-star hotels. For the three-star category, the results were very close between green and non-green hotels, but in favor of non-green hotels with a difference of no more than 1.5%. This reflects the direct positive correlation between environmental practices and customer loyalty. Moreover, this is consistent with and approved of the two sub-hypotheses of the fifth hypothesis, namely (H5a) “Hotels that apply environmental standards create a higher level of loyalty than hotels that are not environmental in general” and (H5b) “level of loyalty increased in the eco-hotels according to the hotel star category compared to non-environmental hotels”.

6. Discussion

Going green and applying environmental practices in the hotel industry are becoming increasingly important. Despite the negatives associated with that transformation, especially regarding the financial costs necessary for that transformation, which is the focal point of many literature [18,25,85,86,87,88,89]. This transformation is an inevitable necessity, as many studies have supported it and proved the effectiveness of that change in many respects, including the financial aspect, which can be covered in the long term [16,27,90,91]. In that context, the results of this study confirmed that the transformation to the green form in the case of the study of Budapest hotels is a matter of occurrence and cannot be denied, as the results of the study coincided with the literature that supports the importance of this transformation. The share of large hotels operating within a chain of hotels [86,92] in the application of environmental practices and orientations was greater, and this was demonstrated by the disparity in percentages between five-star hotels, followed by four-star hotels, and then three-star hotels. Many studies have indicated that the most important reason for this is because of the high financial costs of that transformation, which makes many hotels unable to cover them due to the limited and modest resources and capabilities [16,19,86]. This has been proven in the first and second hypotheses, and the discrepancy in the level of demand for adopting environmental trends is reflected in a decreasing way, with a decrease in the level of star rating for the hotel, in agreement with what has been stated in many studies [16,18,86].

In general, eco-hotels performed better than traditional hotels based on ratings extracted from guest reviews for those hotels. However, when hotels were compared within the same category of star rating, the three- and four-star environmental hotels were better than the non-environmental hotels of the same category. As for the five-star hotels, the non-environmental hotels performed better than the environmental hotels, specifically regarding the obtained value score, which Segarra-Oña [18] confirmed in her study, as adopting environmental practices will not achieve an additional advantage for these hotels, but on the contrary, it will reduce the quality of the level of service from the point of view of environmentally uneducated customers who want to obtain services with luxurious standards. This may also be due to the provision of environmental services differently from traditional services and as a result of weakness in the appropriate marketing of these services, so they are understood by customers as less quality or more expensive [9,54]. When guests know about the existence of environmental services, they tend to choose them [25,44,51,93] despite offering some sacrifices in terms of comfort and luxury [94,95] and also paying some additional cost [44,57,96].

As for the fourth and fifth hypotheses, the aim was to determine the difference in performance and the reflection on the guest experience between environmental and non-environmental hotels by analyzing guest reviews for those hotels and comparing them. Eco-hotels achieved a higher level of customer satisfaction and loyalty, and this difference was clear for hotels in the five- and four-star categories, while the results were very close for hotels in the three-star category.

Although the demand for green hotels is still relatively low [97,98], the results of the study agreed with previous studies in that guest loyalty increases and is positively associated with environmental initiatives implemented by hotels [98,99,100]. However, this was directly related to the level of quality of the experience experienced by the guests. If the environmental practices cannot be endorsed or recommended to be tried or revisited in eco-hotels if the level of quality of the experience, they were low or less than the level of services provided in traditional hotels [23,98,101].

Accordingly, educating guests and informing them about environmental practices in an appropriate manner through effective environmental marketing of these practices plays a pivotal role in order to enrich their experience and increase their acceptance of environmental practices and understand them appropriately, and explain the real acquired value when choosing these services [23,101,102]. In the same context, it is not without customers who only focus on costs and abstract personal benefits without their interest in the consequences of using non-environmental services, so environmental services, if their cost exceeds traditional services, will be an excluded option for them [23,101,103].

7. Conclusions

Green/environmental practices in the hotel industry are still under criticism. This topic is conceptually complex and has many supporters and believers in the importance of these environmental practices, while at the same time many opponents and marginalized of the actual role of these practices on the ground.

This study concludes several results, as the adoption of environmental practices varied between hotels according to their different star categories. Five-star hotels were the most adopting of environmental practices, followed by the four-star hotels and then the three-star hotels. Hotels belonging to hotel chains were also more eco-friendly. On the other hand, eco-hotels generally received a better evaluation by customers, despite the varying level of this evaluation, as the difference appeared clearly between four-star eco-hotels and traditional hotels of the same category, while this difference became less between hotels of the five- and three-star categories.

8. Implications

By using different analytical tools and techniques (e.g., statistical hypothesis test/t-test, text mining, NLP, and sentiment analysis), this study tried to put a new brick on this topic construction and increase the literature studying this controversy in a specific geographical area, “Budapest” believing that this might help to present reliable and trustworthy feedback about the truth behind these green practices in the hotel industry. The results of this study revealed that there is a direct positive correlation between environmental practices on one side and hotel image and customer preferences on the other, except for the relation between hotel image in comparison to green practices and hotel star rating level. To conclude, despite the skepticism of customers about green practices and their marketing in the hotel industry (e.g., misunderstanding these practices, absence of a reflection of these practices on the ground, spurious marketing of such practices, the contradiction of rivals on these practices, contradictions of studies results investigated these practices, etc.), these practices continue to provide much positive feedback by scientists/researchers in the various case studies.

9. Limitations and Future Research Trajectories

Future studies can increase and enhance the scientific content about the role of green practices in the hotel industry by studying this topic in various urban tourism environments (e.g., developing countries, developed countries, coastal tourist areas, popular tourist destinations, under construction tourist destinations, etc.). In addition, future researchers in this field can rely on Biological and Psychology to explain customers’ different views of green hotel practices [104]. Moreover, in the post-COVID-19 era, and energy and supply chain crisis due to the Russian–Ukrainian war, future researchers are suggested to re-conduct these kinds of studies after the return of tourist activities and their gradual recovery. This gives a fairer comparison, as hotels operate at their full efficiency, bearing in mind that these effects were significant both on green and non-green hotels alike.

Additionally, this study is based on available online data due to the mass segment and the research area, which could be considered as base research to guide future studies. Future research could be applied focusing on narrower segments by choosing a smaller number of hotels, which would generate more specific results and focus on a narrower angle. For that, field surveys, interviews, meetings, and direct contact with owners and hotel managers will clear the image and provide a better understanding.

This study focused on hotels only; future studies for all types of accommodation facilities (hotels, motels, urban flats, and rent) would be a great step toward understanding customers’ preferences and owners’ willingness to adopt environmental practices.