Abstract

People’s tendency toward sustainable behavior is gradually increasing, which affects perceptions about the hotel industry due its high consumption of nonrenewable resources. To know which factors are most determining for the consumer when choosing an eco-friendly hotel, a quantitative study was carried out on a sample of 180 observations from the city of Cali, Colombia, using the logistic regression method on three proposed constructs: hotel choice factors in general, ecological practices perceived by the consumer for choosing a hotel, and marketing strategies developed by the hotel. Based on the hypothesis that, at least one of the independent variables is significant in the choice of the eco-friendly hotel, the data was processed with SPSS software. The results show that tourists prioritize the ecological practices carried out by hotels, especially sustainable management (specifically the reduction of pollution), and their ecological certifications, in addition to the quality of the infrastructure and the adaptation of its facilities to serve people with reduced mobility. Thus, hotel management must highlight these significant aspects of their management since these can considerably increase the probabilities of choosing the hotel, being elements that satisfy the demand of sustainable tourists, as well as providing economic benefits and responding to the urgent need to protect the planet’s sustainability.