What hinders hotels’ adoption of environmental technologies: A quantitative study

•7 barriers hindering hotels from adopting environmental technologies were identified.•Environmental feasibility is the most influential barrier.•Hotels with audited environmental programmes and awards have fewer barriers.•This research generalises some of the findings in Chan et al.’s (2018) qualitative study. In response to our planet’s severe environmental problems, many businesses use environmental technologies to strengthen their environmental performance. However, the adoption rate of using such technologies in hotels is still slow, and very few quantitative studies have examined the reasons why. This study examined the barriers to environmental technology adoption in the Hong Kong hotel industry. We sent 648 questionnaires to the target sample and eventually received 102 completed responses. Seven barriers were identified: (1) monopolised after-sales service; (2) human resource limitations; (3) government and initial support; (4) financial performance; (5) lack of green knowledge and green network; (6) customer experience; and (7) environmental feasibility. An independent samples t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were conducted to investigate the relative significance of the seven barriers for different hotel demographic variables. This study offers specific theoretical and practical implications. Recommendations for the industry are also provided.