GREEN BRANDING AS A SUSTAINABLE MARKETING STRATEGY IN HOTELS: RISKS AND FUTURE RESEARCH DIRECTIONS
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35631/IJEMP.936057Keywords:
Brand Trust, Green Branding, Green Certification, Hotel Industry, Sustainable MarketingAbstract
Green branding has become an increasingly important sustainable marketing strategy in the hotel industry, driven by growing consumer environmental awareness, intensified competition, regulatory pressure, and the expanding role of digital booking platforms. This narrative review discusses green branding in hotels as a strategic, measurable approach that integrates external sustainability signals with internal organisational practices. In particular, it reviews the literature on the role of eco-labels and third-party certification on trust in a brand. The review concludes that green branding is most successful when environmental claims are credible, transparent and substantiated by verifiable practices. It thus recommends third-party certification and ongoing communication of sustainability to improve consumer perceptions, behavioural intentions and relationship outcomes. However, the review also identifies major risks. Symbolic or exaggerated sustainability claims can lead to consumer scepticism, perceptions of greenwashing and reputational damage. In luxury hotels, green branding can also result in moral licensing, where consumers justify increased consumption by engaging with environmentally responsible brands. Moreover, over-excessive or unclear certification schemes can create label confusion and reduce consumer confidence. This review proposes an integrated green branding framework that connects internal sustainability practices, external branding signals, credibility mechanisms, stakeholder responses and measurable performance outcomes to increase academic and managerial relevance. Lastly, the article suggests future research priorities, including causal experiments on platform-based green signals, longitudinal studies comparing sustainability claims with actual performance and explorations of greenwashing, destination equity and green gentrification. Overall, the review concludes that green branding can support sustainable competitive advantage in hotels only when it moves beyond symbolic communication toward credible, evidence-based, and performance-oriented sustainability practice.
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