TripAdvisor brings sustainable programme to Europe
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TripAdvisor has introduced its Green Leaders programme in Europe after a successful launch in the US last year.
The new scheme will aim to bring a new sustainable standard to the European hotel industry by auditing and badging which hotels have a certain level of measures in place to look after the environment.
The scheme requires hotels to be assessed on seven categories including recycling, communications and training and are then recognised on the website as a bronze, silver, gold or platinum level eco-friendly hotel.
TripAdvisor’s director of responsible travel Jenny Rushmore told Travel Daily she expects the uptake in Europe to be higher than the US due to the practices already in place in the continent.
“The leadership in sustainability globally comes from Europe and we are hoping to see an even better response from this region,” she explained. “For example it is already common in Europe to have key card-operated lights and countries like Germany have a strong reputation for eco-friendly initiatives.”
More than 3, 700 hotels have signed up for the programme in the US within a year, with less than 5% reaching the top platinum level.
The transparency of the criteria and the level system is now encouraging properties to do more, in turn improving the sustainability standards of the hotel industry.
“It is really satisfying to see hotels improve; they want to move up another level and becoming something the industry aspires to reach is the impact we hoped to achieve. Hoteliers have so much to do and pressures that sustainability Is added to the list which is why the cost savings are considered first, but some hotels are looking into the long-term and it’s really important and critical to look at,” Rushmore said. “For customers it has not always been easy to compare hotels on how sustainable they are, so we think by putting this up we are encouraging competition. Travellers are interested in green travel but aren’t doing it. They don’t have the time to research and TripAdvisor now has the opportunity to put the information to where they head to already, so it is easier to make those choices.”
It isn’t a secret that hotels often adopt sustainability initiatives to save money but Rushmore has seen more hotel chains announce CSR efforts and many independent hotels feel a personal belief to become more sustainable.
She also revealed that hotels that are in the programme have a 20% higher rating than those that are not and more than 20,000 users have taken up the opportunity to comment on the practices in place.
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