Purpose: This paper aims to explore the intention of consumers to visit green hotels in China through the theory of planned behavior (TPB) extended by adding perceived consumer effectiveness and environmental concern.Design/methodology/approach: The TPB model is used as the basic theoretical framework but is extended by adding two critical variables. Data is collected from 324 respondents by using a self-administered questionnaire survey and analyzed with the assistance of structural equation modeling.Findings: The empirical results show that perceived consumer effectiveness and environmental concern have positive effects on the attitude and the intention of consumers to visit green hotels, and that perceived consumer effectiveness has the largest effect. However, in China, the impact of environmental concern on the intention of consumers to visit green hotels is relatively limited, and the subjective norm has a strong effect. In addition, this research verifies the usefulness of the extended TPB model in understanding the intention of consumers in green hotels industry in China. This is evidenced by a comparison of the initial TPB model with the extended TPB model where the explanatory power has improved from 65 to 68 per cent.Originality/value: This research contributes to TPB theory by addressing certain gaps in the literature regarding the intention of consumers to visit green hotels in China. Furthermore, considering the limitations of the TPB model, two pro-social variables, namely, perceived consumer effectiveness and environmental concern, are incorporated into the TPB model to better understand the intention of consumers to visit green hotels. Also, this research addresses the gap that studies on the role of perceived consumer effectiveness are limited in the tourism and hospitality management literature. The results indicate that perceived consumer effectiveness has the largest influence on the intention of consumers to visit green hotels.