Evaluation of advantages and determinants of thermal hotel’s environmental management practices

Abstract

The aim of this research is to identify the advantages and determinants of environmental management practices in environmentally sensitive thermal hotel operations from the perspective of senior managers or owners. The research population constitutes tourism operation licensed 14 thermal hotel establishments with environmentally-friendly accommodation operation certificate in Turkey. In the research, a survey technique from the quantitative research methods for determining the reasons for hotel managers to adopt the environmental management practices; face to face interviewing techniques from qualitative research methods were used to determine the expectations of senior managers were from environmental management practices. In the analysis of the quantitative data obtained, frequency analysis; in the analysis of qualitative data, content analysis techniques were used. As a result of the research, the biggest and most important advantages of thermal hotel management with environmental management practices are; improving the corporate image of the hotel, raising awareness of social responsibility and maintaining sustainability in tourism. As the most important and most influential determinants behind the direction of thermal hotel management to environmental management practices, it has emerged that environmental management practices play a significant role in reducing costs, improving corporate image and increasing customer satisfaction.