How does Integrated Marketing Communication boost guest satisfaction? A proposal through ecological knowledge and value co-creation

The growing need to increase the effectiveness of the hotel sector communication drives to investigate the ways on how to intensify this communication effects. IMC approach based on sustainability starts to be increasingly important among other alternatives. The present work aims to examine the relationships between IMC for sustainability, ecological knowledge, co-creation of value and satisfaction. A theoretical model is proposed based on the relationships that are studied. The fieldwork was conducted among 303 hotel guests in Kyiv (Ukraine). The results reveal that the IMC for sustainability has a significant influence on satisfaction; furthermore, the findings show that satisfaction increases when ecological knowledge and the co-creation of value mediate this relationship, showing themselves as ways to promote the effect of the IMC. Finally, concerning the trip purpose, it is observed that for business guests, compared to leisure guests, IMC has a greater effect on the level of ecological knowledge, which in turn leads to a higher degree of satisfaction with the hotel.