The mediating role of perceived benefits on intentions to book a sustainable hotel: a multi-group comparison of the Swiss, German and USA travel markets

The theory of planned behaviour (TPB) was applied to analyse the role of perceived benefits (PB) on intentions to book a sustainable hotel. Data for the research came from 2564 respondents to an online survey conducted in Switzerland, Germany, and USA. A multi-group structural equation modelling (SEM) determined how PB (environmental, social, and economic) played a mediating role on booking intentions (BI) in the three markets and identified significant differences among them. Analysis showed that sustainable hotel benefits are bundled into one category as added value, without differentiating among the three sustainability dimensions. In the Swiss and German markets, the findings also showed that benefit perceptions played a partial mediating role between TPB constructs, where both attitude (ATT) and subjective norms (SN) were found to affect booking intentions directly and indirectly. This research highlights the important role sustainability benefit communications can play for hotels in different markets.