In the following video presentation, I explain the 4 reasons why tourism should focus its sustainability programme on guest participation:

• Tourist accommodation buildings don’t use any resources, it’s the people in them that use energy and water, laundry and creates waste, so encouraging conserving directly saves cost and environmental impacts
• Asking guests to participate helps you maintain high levels of service
• Guests appreciate your initiative and this clearly does add to their stay satisfaction
• Teach new life skills your guests can apply at home

….and the 6 persuasive techniques that can help you encourage guest active participation:

• Liking – guests are more likely to be persuaded if they like the staff
• Reciprocation – people naturally tend to return a favour or assistance
• Scarcity – people value things that are limited
• Expertise – share conserving skill s and knowledge
• Integrity – communicate what you have done, don’t be shy
• Consensus – tell your guests how much other guests enjoy the conserving experience

Guest Participation offers you exciting opportunities to design innovative new more sustainable hospitality experiences which are low or zero carbon. I hope you enjoy this science-based presentation. The video was first broadcast on 31 July 2020 at the Eco Hotel Summit to inspire our sector to higher levels of responsible progress, I hope you find it informative.