Digital Platforms as Catalysts for Green Premium: Evidence from the Hotel sector

Green premiums are essential for incentivizing sustainable building practices, yet their realization depends critically on information transmission to consumers. 

We show that online platforms can help amplify green premiums by reducing information frictions. Using low-carbon hotel certification records combined with booking data from a major Chinese online travel platform and employing a stacked difference-in-differences design, we show that certification increases daily total revenue by approximately 8%, driven primarily by higher order volumes rather than an increase in average daily rate. 

Results are robust to regression discontinuity designs around emission thresholds and alternative staggered difference-in-differences estimators. Revenue gains operate through enhanced platform visibility and consumers’ green selection, with evidence that effects strengthen substantially after the platform introduced a “low carbon” filter and consumers switch toward hotels with larger disclosed emission reductions. In contrast, LEED certification and China Green Hotel certification, which signal environmental quality but lack platform integration, generate no revenue effect.