Tapping Mindfulness to Shape Hotel Guests’ Sustainable Behavior

The characteristic of mindfulness is ascribed to people who have a relatively greater awareness of their surroundings and of other people. This study finds that assessing guests’ mindfulness helps hoteliers make those guests aware of and responsive to hotels’ sustainability practices. This process invokes specific elements of mindfulness, including guests’ concern for society and others, their preferences for mindful information services, the benefits they seek from a hotel experience, and their demographic characteristics. This study indicated that highly mindful individuals were more concerned for others and society as a whole and search for products and services that have high emotional and environmental benefits. By understanding guests’ mindfulness, hotel managers may help guests to respond to hotels’ careful stewardship of the environment by engaging in sustainable consumerism.