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The surveys of guests at hotels found that the guests gave higher satisfaction ratings to hotels that held the ISO 14001 certification than to hotels without the certification. The ISO 14001 is an international standard aiming at development of effective environmental management systems, specifies a path for the continuous improvement and the control of a firm’s environmental performance.

Interestingly, the most significant differences were found between upscale 4-star hotels with and those without certification, while differences relating to certification in 5- and 3-star hotels were muted. While the study does not reveal causes for these findings, the implication is that the highest-end luxury hotels do not gain distinctive differentiation by having the ISO 14001 certification, while for 3-star hotels, guests’ price sensitivity apparently overrides environmental concerns.  ISO 14001 certification may give upscale hotels a distinctive asset that leads them to a competitive advantage over similar non-certified properties.