Predictors of willingness to pay a price premium for hotels’ water-saving initiatives

Abstract

This study examines customers’ willingness to pay a premium to support hotels’ water-saving initiatives and the effect of different explanatory variables: attitude toward water conservation, water problem awareness, willingness to sacrifice, reported water-saving behavior, and frugality. A Heckit model is applied to a sample of 681 tourists. Results show that 44.3% of tourists would pay a premium to stay in a hotel that had installed water-saving devices in rooms. The average price premium they would pay is 4.29 euros. These findings help hotel managers identify tourists who could contribute to reducing the costs of going green.