To determine different eco-friendly initiatives, strategies and policies along with their impact on consumer decision making - A case study of Travelodge

Research Report
1

Table of Contents
Topic: “To determine different eco-friendly initiatives, strategies and policies along with their
impact on consumer decision making.” - A case study of Travelodge............................................4
Introduction......................................................................................................................................4
Literature Review.............................................................................................................................6
Research Methodology....................................................................................................................9
Data interpretation and analysis.....................................................................................................12
Reflection.......................................................................................................................................20
Conclusion and Recommendation.................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................22
2

Topic: “To determine different eco-friendly initiatives, strategies and policies along with
their impact on consumer decision making.” - A case study of Travelodge
Introduction
Consumer decision making refers to the process that is aimed at assessing buying
behaviour of the consumers. It initiates with customers identifying their needs. And further, to
satisfy their needs, they gather related and relevant information. These options are then evaluated
further to make a final decision. In hospitality industry, various factors influencing decision of
customers include personal factors such as age, gender, occupation, lifestyle or social factors
such as latest trends, peer advice, etc. It is very important for businesses to understand decision-
making process of their potential customers so that they can align their marketing efforts in the
correct direction. Also, it helps to understand challenges and opportunities lying in the market
while designing their marketing plan and strategies. Hospitality marketers undertake market
research in both online and offline mode to determine customer expectations and behavioural
trends (Gursoy, 2018). These research outcomes are then used to improve guest experiences and
attract more potential customers. Organisation chosen for this research work is Travelodge. It is a
company operating hotel chains across the world. It is headquartered at California, US. This
research is aimed at understanding concept of consumer decision-making and assessing the
relation between actual decision-making process of its potential customers and the various
initiatives taken by Travelodge to influence those decisions.
Research Aim
To determine different eco-friendly initiatives, strategies and policies along with their
impact on consumer decision making. - A case study of Travelodge
Research Objectives
 To understand the concept of consumer decision making
 To evaluate different eco-friendly initiatives, policies and strategies within Travelodge
 To determine relation between the above initiatives on consumer decision making of
Travelodge
Research Questions
 What is meant by the concept of consumer decision-making?
 Evaluate different eco-friendly initiatives, policies and strategies adopted by Travelodge?
3

 What is the relation between eco-friendly initiatives and consumer decision making on
the Travelodge?
Research Rationale
Travelodge operates in hospitality industry. Being a service-based company, it is very
important to assess decision-making process of its potential customers to create a competitive
edge in the market. Therefore, businesses adopt various practices to identify and influence their
potential customers. This research has been conducted with the aim to determine various
initiatives, policies and strategies of eco-friendly nature, adopted by Travelodge to influence
customer decision-making process and the impact of these initiatives on decision-making process
of its potential customers, in the wake of business loss due to Covid-19 pandemic (Fredericks
Laura, 2020).
Gantt Chart
4

Literature Review
Literature review refers to survey of pre-written scholarly sources, articles, surveys, and
journals which are related to the research topic so that meaningful conclusions and outcomes can
be drawn. It forms part of secondary data under research.
Consumer decision making process
Consumer decision making process refers to the process through which consumers make
a final buying decision. As per Shaw (2018), consumer behaviour is determined by economic
and psychologic factors and is influenced by social and cultural factors. It is a complex process
as no two-individuals think alike. Consumer decision making process can be categorised into
different stages and it is very important for businesses to influence consumer decision making on
every stage to maximise their profitability (Mehta Seema, Saxena Tanjul and Purohit Neetu). It
starts with need recognition stage in which consumers determine their needs and are on look-out
to fulfil those needs. Businesses need to advertise themselves to present itself as an alternative or
they can take initiative to develop needs and demands of their target customers as well. In the
next stage, customers search for the information to fulfil their needs from different sources like
5

commercials, personal, public and experiential. It is at this stage, when advertisements are most
effective as they provide information about the features of particular product or service. In the
third stage, customer evaluates information collected and alternatives available. Direct selling
methods are effective in this stage. In the further stages, customer made purchase decision and
observe post purchase behaviour of the product or service in accordance to their needs and brand
performance. Efforts in these stages are able to earn loyal customers for the brand.
As per Mehta, Saxena and Purohit (2020), Covid-19 pandemic is not a normal crisis and
therefore, to control it lock-down was implemented bringing in economic instability in the
market all over the world. This instability has transformed consumer decision making process
and further learning from crisis will change needs, personality and lifestyle of people, giving rise
to further changes. It was observed that in the times of crisis, macro consumer behaviour is most
impacted by social factors derived out of personal factors influence in micro consumer
behaviour. Risk attitude or consumers’ perception towards risk changes and shrinks to the
negative side i.e., people become risk averse, in the case of direct service-based industries like
hospitality and tourism and non-essential products industries like jewellery, cosmetic, etc. while
moves towards positive side in case of essential products industries general provisions and
emergency service industries like hospital.
Different eco-friendly initiatives, policies and strategies
Hotels keeps on updating their infrastructure, services and facilities to give their guests’
new and better every time they visit. Eco-friendly initiatives adopted by hotels not only help
them achieve financial sustainability in their services but environmental sustainability also in
their operations. Fredricks (2020) asserts that adopting environmentally sustainable practices
help them reduce their carbon footprints and even the smallest efforts like cutting down on water
usage, saving energy and reducing waste makes a lot of difference on their environmental
impact. Some of them require huge capital expenditures and are difficult to implement while
others are easier to implement on a low-cost. Hotels should increasingly try to practise green
practices in all their operational processes like maintenance, logistics, supplies, services and
products as it would provide their customers a new experience and they will be probably ready to
pay extra for sustainable services (Shaw Ahsan Ali, 2018).
Most basic eco-friendly initiative, policy and strategies in hotels are related to energy and
water conservation. They are making eco-friendly changes like using solar power to fuel energy
6