Responsible travel: How do we make booking sustainable hotels easier?
Sustainability in Hospitality
— 22 experts shared their view



Best Practices of showing Tourist Accommodation sustainability on-line Sustainability is complex. Communicating it well requires storytelling. My thoughts for OTAs, NTO, and Regional tourism is: see more

BA Hons, PGCE & MSc, Tourism Training Specialist & Business Mentor for Small, Independent Hotels
The perception of sustainable business practice is intrinsically linked to the way it is communicated. Acceptable actions and solutions are framed through language choice and messaging approach. The unexpressed concern that “green” is interpreted as cost-cutting and reduced quality must be eliminated. see more

CEO and Founder of Conscious Hotels
Making booking sustainable hotels easier? In my belief, it will definitely happen as due to Corona the love for the planet and conscious living is on the rise. There is a critical mass growing so booking sustainable hotels will soon be a selection criteria on all major platforms. It is not very forward-looking of OTAs to have waited soo long. see more

Vice President Global Corporate Responsibility at InterContinental Hotels Group
There are many questions yet to be answered about the future of travel in a post-pandemic world, but one thing that seems quite clear is the growing consumer focus on sustainability and responsibility. The UN global climate poll – the biggest ever on the matter - published earlier this month confirms it; two-thirds of the global population say the climate crisis is a global emergency, meaning it's a factor high on the agenda for people when they choose to travel and stay, too. see more

Sustainable Travel Consultant and Writer and Communications Manager for The Long Run
Lack of transparency remains a stumbling block for travelers who mostly don't have the time or inclination to spend hours researching a hotel's sustainability credentials. There are three ways in which we need greater transparency. see more

Associate Professor and Graduate Program Director School of Hospitality and Tourism Management
There is an urgent need to get sustainable hotels "on the shelf". It's not hard to find organic food at my local grocery store. It is clearly labeled, and I can easily choose it as I walk through the aisles. On the other hand, if I wanted to book a sustainable hotel, I'd face a real challenge (and I've been doing this for a while). The search 'cost' would include digging deep into hotel brand CSR pages to determine what information related to the property I was choosing. It is too much to expect from all but the most diligent buyers. We can't expect consumers to buy "sustainable hotels" unless they are easy to book. see more

CEO of Kerten Hospitality
Choosing a planet-friendly hotel or such type of accommodation is not about green certification, affiliation with a global think-tank of sustainability experts, or replacing plastic straws with more environmentally friendly alternatives. When talking about booking sustainable hotels, probably the first step is to identify what the definition of sustainable is…. see more

Partner/Director at the Considerate Group
Transparency on all sustainable initiatives, projects, certifications as well as reporting frameworks for all products offered by a booking platform should be available to consumers at every step of the process. This includes information on hotels, airlines, cruise ships, ground handlers, and any other travel product sold on the platform. Obviously, it can be a struggle and a lengthy process for the booking platforms to obtain all of the above information, but through stakeholder engagement and supply chain surveys key basic features can be collected and displayed for the end consumer to access easily. see more

The last decade has seen a surge in the number of studies and trend reports claiming that sustainability is on the verge of becoming the new normal across industries and witnessing the rise of the mindful consumer. The travel industry makes no exception as a majority of travelers declared their commitment to travel responsibly, expecting industry professionals to adapt their offerings accordingly. see more

Founder and CEO of InfraCert GmbH
A sustainable lifestyle was established in the population long before Corona. Since Greta Thunberg and #fridayforfuture, many people have started to think about their own consumption and their behavior towards the environment and have changed significant things in their lives in order to improve their own ecological footprint. It is gratifying that the pandemic is now also having a positive effect on sustainability when traveling. However, in my opinion, it has only accelerated this process a little and the travelers were already on the way to changing their travel behavior permanently. see more

Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance
As the evidence shows, customers – corporate and holiday-makers – are increasingly wanting to make more sustainable travel choices. With 69% of global travelers expecting the travel industry to offer more sustainable travel options, there is an emphasis on hotel properties to demonstrate their positive impact. see more

Managing Partner at MRP hotels
Responsible travel in a sustainable hotel environment; wouldn't it be nice?! Who doesn't know the 1966 Beach Boys song that starts with “Wouldn't it be nice…”? It said much in its first few chores: “Wouldn't it be nice….if we were older? Then we wouldn't have to wait so long. And wouldn't it be nice to live together? In the kind of world where we belong?…” see more

Director of Standards and Accreditation at Hotel Resilient
COVID-19 has opened people's eyes to the importance of the tourism sector to not only national economies but to the hundreds of millions of jobs in the industry, including SMEs and vulnerable populations that have been hardest hit. While this proves that disruptions to the tourism industry can have devastating and far-reaching impacts, it reminds us of the potential benefits of effecting positive change in the industry. Now that tourism is in the spotlight, the audience remains (for the time being) to discuss key issues of tourism moving forward, such as natural hazards, climate risks, over-tourism, environmental impacts, equitable employment, forced labour, food waste and corporate social responsibility. see more

Professor of Hospitality Management at the IUBH International University
Determinants of travellers' choices when making a hotel booking have been researched from various angles by the academic community. A recent study published in the International Journal of Hospitality Management looked at the two stages of decision making (comparing various alternatives and identifying the optimal choice) and asked two key questions: (1) What are the key factors affecting consumers' consideration of alternatives? and (2) what are the key factors driving consumers' final choices? (Hu and Yang, 2019, p.2). While the research did not include a 'green' factor but focused on factors such as hotel online ratings, price discounts or sales promotions, it is interesting to point out the importance and influence of hotel online ratings and review volume on the consumer decision-making during both decision making stages. With these results in mind, one of my studies as well as the results from Gerdt et al. (2009) indicate that there is a relationship between sustainability endeavours of hotels, consumer satisfaction and online reputation ranking (qualitative and quantitative). In another empirical research conducted by one of my students, transparency on OTAs, improved advertisement, as well as the establishment of a global green ranking system were also identified as potential improvements. see more

Program Director of Oceanic Global
Even in the face of a global recession and pandemic, consumer demand for businesses to demonstrate sustainable practices and planetary stewardship has only increased. People want to support businesses that embody their beliefs and are willing to pay more. see more

Assistant Professor at Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL)
Clients often look for the best price-quality offers during their booking process. The challenge in front of responsible travelers is the lack of clarity and transparency about the hotels concerning their sustainability-related efforts and achievements. Even in specialized websites, such as Bookdifferent.com, the information about environmental and social efforts made by the hotel is not easily understandable, because it is not customer friendly. I believe, there should be a simplified, but credible label or a shortlist of sustainability-related actions of the hotel on the screen during the reservation process. Certainly, this would not be the final solution, but simply a step toward more sustainable bookings, where customers will be a bit more aware of the sustainable efforts, initiatives, and results of the hotels. This way customers can make their sustainable choices and, once in the hotel, track and even evaluate those actions, so others can make their decisions more responsibly, too, if they wish.

Associate Professor at Institut Paul Bocuse
Finding a hotel that guests can trust to be sustainable has to become user-friendly. There are many sustainability labels and certifications in the industry, but guests are too often unfamiliar with them. Yet in other business-to-consumer industries, there are examples of widely recognized labels, such as Fair Trade, that stand out in the purchase situation. see more

Director, How to Green Your Hotel
It's difficult for travelers to find information that enables them to evaluate hotel environmental performance. There is no universally-accepted scorecard or website that ranks hotels on environmental measures. So, hotels must communicate their green credentials on their own to prospective guests. see more

Co-Founder of La Belle EDuC, Founder of Upside Up Hotel Asset and Guest Lecture at ESSEC MSc in Hospitality Management (IMHI)
Making wise decisions when it comes to traveling certainly requests that travel agents and hotels disclose and share new information about destinations. see more

Founder & CEO of WE(i) Think
Sustainability is still a subjective concept for most properties, making it difficult to integrate sustainability principles as search engine criteria and drowning in the mass sustainable hotels with limited options to show their added value other than in their description. see more

Founder, Agentur Auf!
Presently travelers have a hard time identifying which hotel goes well in line which what the “green guest” is actually looking for. Two problems arise: First, most tourism operators know too little about their impact on the environment and tools for how to measure and reduce it. And second, the certification schemes or external proof on how to define “green”, “biodiversity-friendly” or “sustainable” is often lacking. see more

PhD, FIH, SFHEA, Director of Postgraduate Research Studies at Brighton Doctoral College
Let customers review how sustainable a hotel is by having up to 5 green stars (on top of the existing star rating). Booking.com and TripAdvisor and other such platforms could adopt such a feature not just for hotels but other hospitality businesses too (If they do feature other types). I believe that ALL hospitality businesses should strive to be sustainable with the true meaning of the word, not just green issues. However, I do accept the fact that most customers would be able to rate only some aspects of sustainability and are likely to focus on green issues. But that in itself is a good start. A real effort by 3rd parties would see that your green star rating affects your overall rating and if you do not have a 5star green rating you can not reach a 5-star general rating. In other words, an algorithm that takes into consideration the green stars rating and applies it to the general rating. An alternative to that solution would be a Green/Sustainable focused hotel search engine/platform but we have not yet seen any study that suggests that the consumer cares enough about green practices to truly alter their booking behavior. In conclusion, I argue that the power for change lies in the hands of 3rd parties and consumers. This approach in my view will minimize Green Washing and will affect decision making for the general consumer too.