Corporate customers are booking more sustainable hotels in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint, with the number of overnight stays estimated at 8 million, according to the latest figures from accommodation booking platform HRS.
According to HRS, customers using the Green Stay Initiative reduced hotel-related carbon dioxide emissions by 27% in the first half of 2024, compared to the same period last year. Accordingly, water consumption from hotel stays fell by 4.6% over the same period.
That’s one of the main findings of HRS’ new State of Sustainability in Corporate Travel report, which examines how corporate travelers are increasingly booking hotels with lower emissions pollutants and operating costs.
HRS reported that reductions in hotel emissions are being achieved, despite accommodation accounting for 30% of total emissions during a business trip, up 21% from previous figures. from the coronavirus pandemic.
The report found that booking more sustainable accommodation also saves money, with the 25% of the most carbon-efficient hotels offering average daily rates 17% lower, compared to the 25% of the most polluting hotels.
“As emissions reduction has risen to the top of the list of priorities for hotel management programs, in too many cases travel procurement leaders have been led to believe that staying in sustainable hotels would cost more. There is now clear evidence that this need not be the case,” the report’s authors noted.
According to them, the correlation between a hotel’s progress in reducing its emissions, the ability to digitally provide transparency about its sustainable features and offer better prices has multiple cascading benefits.
Bookings in “green hotels” increased by 17% this year
The report also predicts that the number of Green Stay hotel bookings in the whole of 2024 will increase by 17% year-on-year, with an estimated 8 million overnight stays throughout this year.
One of the major drivers of this choice of more sustainable hotels by corporate travelers is the implementation of government directives to reduce emissions around the world, including the EU Corporate Sustainability and Reporting Directive, which will affect more than 50,000 companies until 2026.
HRS also found that frequent corporate travelers who booked more than 50 nights per year reduced emissions from their stay by 14% year over year in the first half of 2024.
Less frequent travelers (10 to 50 nights per year) reduced their hotel-related emissions by 32%, and those who booked fewer than 10 nights per year saw emissions drop by 26%.
