The circular economy has become an important and necessary solution in a context where environmental pressures are increasing. Thus, this study analyzes the perceptions of Romanian consumers on circular economy practices in hotel units from a marketing perspective, while the aspects considered are attitudes, level of information, intention to choose sustainable hotels and willingness to pay a higher price. The study was carried out through quantitative marketing research, using the CAWI method, based on a questionnaire distributed online. The results obtained from 195 respondents indicated a high level of notoriety of the circular economy concept, while the degree of its understanding was quite moderate. Respondents showed positive attitudes towards circular economy practices applied in hotel units and appreciated the reuse of resources and the reduction of waste. They had a certain level of skepticism regarding the environment, which highlighted the need for credible communication. The behavior of respondents before booking is uneven, although the declared intention to choose sustainable hotels is quite favorable. Moreover, most respondents stated that they are willing to pay more for hotels that apply circular economy practices. Thus, the results that were obtained highlight a continuous need for consumer education in the field of sustainability and provide a relevant perspective for the marketing strategies of hotel establishments.

AI systems have fundamentally changed the way brands communicate with consumers. Avatars, virtual influencers, and AI personas have become social actors in the brand consumer relationship, relying on anthropomorphic design and ongoing interaction. Given their growing influence, trust has become a central concept in research on consumers’ responses to AI-driven marketing. This study presents how trust is conceptualized in AI-driven marketing with a focus on avatars and virtual influencers. Our study employs a bibliometric analysis of 2888 articles published between 2021 and 2025 from Web of Science. We have found that avatar marketing is a fragmented research domain, and that trust plays an instrumental role in achieving marketing outcomes. Transparency and fairness, ethical concerns discussed in the literature, hold peripheral positions, and AI regulation appears as the most isolated concept in the cluster analysis. Although trust occupies a central position, it is conceptualized for its functional role, not for its ethical dimension. This is a clear literature gap that is translated into the field’s lack of a conceptual framework to evaluate the legitimacy of AI-driven marketing practices. Our study supports a reframing of trust, from a dependent variable of marketing efficiency to a central ethical criterion.