Exploring Tourist Perceptions of Eco-Friendly Hotels in Bali through Online Customer Reviews

Abstract

Bali, as an international tourism destination, faces growing sustainability challenges related to overtourism, plastic waste, and environmental degradation, which threaten environmental quality and local cultural preservation. In response, green hotels have been promoted as part of sustainable tourism development. However, empirical research examining how tourists perceive eco-friendly hotel practices through verified online customer reviews, particularly in Bali, remains limited. This study addresses this gap by exploring tourists’ perceptions of green hotels in Bali based on verified online reviews. Using a qualitative descriptive approach with content analysis, this study analysed 4,495 guest reviews collected from Booking.com for ten hotels in Bali certified as Verified Gold by Eco Tourism Bali. Among these reviews, 207 (4.6%) explicitly contained environmental or sustainability-related themes. Overall, tourists’ perceptions of green hotels in Bali were predominantly positive, with the highest appreciation directed toward general green practices, environmentally conscious site design, and sustainable purchasing practices. Word frequency analysis further shows that terms such as sustainable, environment, and eco appeared most frequently, indicating that tourists tend to associate green hotels with a holistic environmental identity rather than isolated technical practices. This study contributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence from verified online reviews on how eco-friendly hotel practices are perceived in a major tourism destination. Practically, the findings offer insights for hotel managers to enhance the visibility and implementation of sustainability initiatives without compromising guest comfort, thereby strengthening the credibility of green hotel practices.