GLOBAL lodging platform HRS has unveiled Green Stay Initiative, described as “a first-of-its-kind solution that gives corporations and employees a way to organise business travel more sustainably.
Introduced as a pilot in the first quarter of this year, the initiative leverages proprietary technology to give corporate procurement executives, travel planners and travellers “an intuitive system to identify, compare and prioritise hotels” that are helping to reduce the ecological footprint.
HRS said it is assimilating data from “thousands of hotel groups and independent properties” as part of a framework, including details on energy consumption, water use and waste disposal, to provide “vital information” to corporations and travellers for them to make procurement and individual booking decisions.
The company pointed out that sustainability has become a “megatrend” in the era of Covid with companies and countries targeting carbon-neutral business practices, as well as with travellers.
- A 2020 BCG survey of consumers in eight countries found that 87% said companies should more aggressively integrate environmental concerns into their products, services, and operations
- The European Union has committed to being climate-neutral by 2050, in line with the Paris Agreement, calling it both “an urgent challenge and an opportunity to build a better future for all.” On the Biden administration’s first day, United States took steps to re-join the Paris Agreement and align with global emission targets.
- Leading automobile manufacturers have also trumpeted the dramatic reduction of production of vehicles with tailpipe emissions over the next 20 years. Daimler, with its “Ambition 2039” initiative, is one of multiple multi-national brands making firm commitments towards eliminating emissions from vehicles.
- More than 50 Fortune 500 companies – several of which are HRS clients – have joined the Climate Pledge with the aim to be carbon neutral by 2040. Among them are Amazon, Ernst & Young, Microsoft and Siemens.
This trend has flowed into the managed travel arena, noted HRS. Corporate travel looks at a redefined ecosystem in the wake of the pandemic, and procurement and travel departments are tasked with doing their part to help companies achieve carbon net-neutral status this decade.
“The latest Sustainability Index from Cornell highlights that hotels, on average, account for 45 kilogrammes of carbon emissions per room night. Metrics like this are vital as companies take steps to reduce their carbon footprint,” explained Martin Biermann, chief product officer for HRS and leader of the team developing the Green Stay Initiative.
To build the global database he disclosed that HRS analysed various approaches to collect this information. Carbon, water and waste data varies while location, climate, hotel type, municipal infrastructure and other factors impact true measurement.
“While suppliers have progressed in capturing this data the legacy fragmentation of the global hotel marketplace resulted in disparate data points that are far too complex for companies to efficiently digest. To address this we took steps to build a normalised global framework that solves these issues proactively.”
To showcase their sustainable practices hotels engage in a scoring system developed by HRS, which determines actual footprint values on a hotel’s energy, water and waste usage. The system is based on guidelines established by the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and the World Travel & Tourism Council.
Hotels are scored based upon their metrics and progress from the prior calendar year. This enables corporate decision makers to weigh environmental sustainability elements based on factual data when developing programs. When hotels are categorised as “Green” they are awarded a new Green Stay label that appears in procurement displays (when buyers are considering hotels for inclusion as a preferred supplier) and self-booking tools used by employees and travel agents for individual bookings.
According to HRS, ongoing hotel engagement building off its Clean & Safe Protocol, which was launched last year is the key to making the initiative work for both corporations and hotel partners.
“The Green Stay Initiative enables companies to dramatically enhance awareness of new sustainability priorities for their travel programmes while also facilitating an avenue for hoteliers to promote their corresponding investments,” said HRS CEO Tobias Ragge. “As our industry emerges from pandemic-related challenges we’re hopeful this technology will ultimately represent a milestone in advancing sustainable managed travel for years to come,”
• Featured image credit: Petmal/Getty Images
