Environmental practices have become an important matter in all aspects of life and industries, especially in the post-COVID-19 era. However, these practices continue to face many criticisms about their seriousness and effectiveness. In this context, this study aims to analyze the relationship between adopting green practices in hotels on one side and hotel image, customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty on the other side, considering the star-level rating system of the hotels and the hotel operating categories (chain or independent). This study depended on a sample of 235 hotels in the Hungarian capital of Budapest. Several analytical methods were used to achieve the study aim, including descriptive statistics, t-test, arithmetic averages comparison, text mining, NLP, and sentiment analysis. This study revealed that: (I) The higher the hotel star rank, the better the reviews and valuation factors. (II) Hotels that operate in chains show more attention to environmental practices. (III) Customers are more loyal to and satisfied with green hotels, and this increases as the hotel’s star rating increases.

Many green financial products currently have a low financial return level; even so, these products are spreading dynamically. In our study, we explored Hungarian green financial investment preferences and separated consumers of green financial products into homogeneous groups, which were characterized on the basis of sociodemographic characteristics. In the case of investments with a similar risk, using the sample we examined we proved that there is a homogenous group (C2) in Hungary which prefers green aspects to higher financial returns in the course of its investment decisions. We separated a group (C3) which can be considered influenceable, and we concluded that, with the application of appropriate marketing activities, this group could be a potential target consumers for national banks and traders of green financial products in the future. Young females are the main target consumers for green financial products in Hungary, and they are the largest majority of the C2 group, for whom financial rationality takes a backseat to green aspects. Based on the results of our study, national banks and traders of financial products can create a more accurate and effective marketing strategy for their products on the Hungarian market.

The purpose of this study is to examine the question of how crises influence the decision-making of Hungarian university students. Crises increase the risk of sustainability, so it is crucial to make appropriate financial decisions in such a situation. For this purpose, the authors conducted a two-stage questionnaire survey among students of economics and other majors. The inquiries took place in 2019 (n = 1558) and 2020 (n = 1712). A regression study was used to analyse the evolution of financial attitudes and investment knowledge, as well as how they are affected by a potential crisis modelled with the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been shown that interest in financial matters increases as a result of the crisis and the level of financial knowledge also increases. However, the most important conclusion of the study is that, in the event of a high threat, knowledge and practice can only be combined with calm thinking to help make appropriate financial decisions. All of this together ensures that investment decisions are the basis for the sustainability of personal finances.

Portfolio diversification is an accepted principle of risk management. When constructing an efficient portfolio, there are a number of asset classes to choose from. Financial innovation is expanding the range of instruments. In addition to traditional commodities and securities, other instruments have been added. These include cryptocurrencies. In our study, we seek to answer the question of what proportion of cryptocurrencies should be included alongside traditional instruments to optimise portfolio risk. We use VaR risk measures to optimise the process. Diversification opportunities are evaluated under normal return distributions, thick-tailed distributions, and asymmetric distributions. To answer our research questions, we have created a quantitative model in which we analysed the VaR of different portfolios, including crypto-diversified assets, using Monte Carlo simulations. The study database includes exchange rate data for two consecutive years. When selecting the periods under examination, it was important to compare favourable and less favourable periods from a macroeconomic point of view so that the study results can be interpreted as a stress test in addition to observing the diversification effect. The first period under examination is from 1 September 2020 to 31 August 2021, and the second from 1 September 2021 to 31 August 2022. Our research results ultimately confirm that including cryptoassets can reduce the risk of an investment portfolio. The two time periods examined in the simulation produced very different results. An analysis of the second period suggests that Bitcoin’s diversification ability has become significant in the unfolding market situation due to the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Our study examined the financial situation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the health industry of the Visegrad Four (V4: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Hungary) in the period 2008–2021. The basis of the analysis was the reports available in the Crefoport database. During the analysis, we took into account four key financial indicators (liquidity, profitability (ROA), efficiency, capital structure) and used the Kaplan–Meier survival estimator to examine the viability of enterprises. In our study, we draw attention to the national economic importance of healthcare SMEs in the CEE region, and within that, in the V4 countries during the period of Industry 4.0 and the COVID-19 pandemic. Our research goal is to examine the life expectancy of healthcare enterprises operating in Hungary at the time of their establishment, in relation to the SMEs of the other three countries. The health industry SMEs of the V4 countries showed positive growth (+18%) in the period under review compared to the average of the 3 years before the COVID-19 pandemic, in the average of the first 3 years of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study paid particular attention to the life expectancy of businesses at the time of establishment. According to our results, the life expectancy of healthcare enterprises operating in Hungary at the time of establishment is high, but it does not differ significantly from that of the other examined countries. Our study highlights that the health industry SMEs of the examined countries do not need financial support; they are standing on a stable footing, which provides them with an excellent opportunity to either expand abroad or introduce innovations.

This research explores the efficacy of rebalancing strategies in a diversified portfolio constructed exclusively with exchange-traded funds (ETFs). We selected five ETF types: short-term U.S. Treasury bonds, U.S. equities, global commodities, U.S. real estate investment trusts (REITs), and a multi-strategy hedge fund. Using a 10-year historical period, we applied a unique simulation model to generate random portfolios with varying asset weights and rebalancing tolerance bands, assessing the impact of rebalancing premiums on portfolio performance. Our study reveals a significant positive correlation (r = 0.6492, p < 0.001) between rebalancing-weighted returns and the Sharpe ratio, indicating that effective rebalancing enhances risk-adjusted returns. Support vector regression (SVR) analysis shows that rebalancing premiums have diverse effects. Specifically, equities and commodities benefit from rebalancing with improved risk-adjusted returns, while bonds and REITs demonstrate a negative relationship, suggesting that rebalancing might be less effective or even detrimental for these assets. Our findings also indicate that negative portfolio rebalancing returns combined with positive rebalancing-weighted returns yield the highest average Sharpe ratio of 0.4328, highlighting a distinct and reciprocal relationship between rebalancing effects at the asset and portfolio levels. This research highlights that while rebalancing can enhance portfolio performance, its effectiveness varies by asset class and market conditions.