Segmenting the Generation Z Cohort Based on Evaluation of Hotel’s Environmental Policy

Tourism consists of a “neuralgic” sector of the economy of many countries, and for it to be viable in the future years, sustainable practices are applied. One area of sustainability in the tourism sector is the interest in sustainable practices that hotels employ. This research focuses on the sustainable practices that hotels use, and specifically, it measures the green hotel practices as evaluated by the Greek Generation Z cohort. Seven statements referring to a hotel’s (0–5 star) environmental policy that is easily detected when staying at a hotel room are evaluated by 736 Generation Z members. Criteria for participating in the study were to be an adult member of the Greek Generation Z cohort, thus born 1995–2001 in 2019, have internet access, an email or Facebook account, and stayed at a hotel for at least two nights. Additionally, satisfaction, intention to return, and intention to recommend the hotel are measured based on the hotel’s environmentally friendly practices. A web-based questionnaire was utilized for data selection in May 2020, during the country’s lockdown, with questions referring to hotel accommodation of the previous year. Data analysis incorporated descriptive statistics, K-Means Cluster analysis, chi-square, and cross-tabulation tests. Cluster analysis is applied to all seven statements, plus the three statements: satisfaction, intention to return, and intention to recommend. K-Means Cluster analysis extracted three segments, precisely the “environmentally indifferent,” the “environmentally sensitive,” and the “environmentally insensitive but dissatisfied”. Marketing directions are provided two-fold: towards the targeted customer group, i.e., the Greek members of the Generation Z cohort for increasing environmental awareness, as well as towards the hoteliers with recommendations referring to low-cost sustainable practices.