Sustainability – regarded as a concept, the term has quite a history behind it. As a buzzword, though, it has gained a lot more traction since the climate tipping points are coming closer.
Sustainability can also be associated with regional or social responsibility.
In the climate crisis, however, these different dimensions fall into one - because the consequences of global warming are equally apparent globally and locally: heat waves in India, droughts in the United States, coral bleaching off the Australian coasts, and flooding in the Ahr Valley are, after all, only the globally distributed effects of the same thing.
Ok, so … what does this have to do with hotels?
Well, our industry is also tackling the issue: On the one hand, because travel is great! We don't want to do without it - even though travel and much of what goes with it is far from being climate-neutral.
On the other hand, there is so much potential for climate protection, especially in the hotel industry! And also, all the other aspects of sustainability can fall in one, when it comes to travelling.
And by the way: sustainable hospitality does not have to look like it smells bad! ;)
Planting trees and recycling plastic with EcoHotels
EcoHotels is an OTA dedicated to this balancing act: Travel - but in a really good way. Or, as Patricia Plesner, the platform's founder and CEO, puts it: "We believe that travel can be a real force for good - not only for international understanding, but also for the environment."
EcoHotels therefore not only plants a tree for every booking. So far, a good 25,000 trees have been collected in this way - a small forest after all.
In addition, other social and nature conservation initiatives are supported - for example, the Bali Plastic Exchange, a project that simultaneously ensures a stable food supply on the islands which are economically hugely dominated by tourism while at the same time it incentivizes cleaning up large amounts of plastic waste.
So … how about hotels?
Of course, you can't just plant trees at EcoHotels - that's just the side effect of booking through the portal. And which hotels are listed?
Never enough.
EcoHotels only lists hotels that are particularly committed to ecological sustainability and are certified as such.
Because certificates follow different standards and criteria, the EcoHotel team have decided to use the list of recognized certifications of the GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) as a meta-criterion and thus as a gateway to listing on the website.
On the listing or results pages, EcoHotels displays the hotel operators' efforts with small icons and as a list: Travelers can see at a glance whether the breakfast offered comes from organic farming or local producers, whether energy efficiency measures are being taken, and what the recycling regime looks like.
In this way, hotel operators can directly address a particularly environmentally conscious target group and also ensure that trees are planted? Win-win-win.
HQ revenue & EcoHotels
With 17,000 listed hotels offering a bit over 50,000 rooms (2022), EcoHotels is still a niche player. But: They are on the right playing field.
For us at HQ revenue, too, sustainability is a topic we don't want to neglect. And EcoHotels is also a provider that not only makes green booking sexy, but also doesn't ignore the business side of things: The ecologically sensitive LOHAS target group is often demanding - and also financially strong.
HQ revenue integrates EcoHotels as a Channel –among many others. After all, the world of travel is - unsurprisingly: always on the move.
More Sustainability ...
… is always possible. More about EcoHotels, why of all things willows are planted (spoiler: because they can absorb a particularly large amount of CO2) and which certificates the platform operators trust on EcoHotels - What We Do.
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