The Washington Inquirer EditorDelivering on Booking Holdings’ commitment to implement its first-of-its-kind program enterprise-wide, the expansion makes credible sustainability information available to more travelers across more platforms
Today, Booking Holdings, the world’s leading provider of online travel and related services, announced the expansion of its Travel Sustainable program to relevant brands across the Booking Holdings family.
The news marks the company’s delivery on its commitment to launch its first-of-its-kind program for accommodations enterprise-wide by the end of 2023.
Travel Sustainable provides credible information on impactful sustainability efforts taken by properties worldwide and gives travelers a transparent, consistent and easy-to-understand way to identify a wider range of more sustainable stays, no matter where they want to travel.
The aim of the program is to give visibility to accommodations that have made progress on a broad spectrum of sustainability efforts, from those at an earlier stage to those who have achieved one of more than 40 recognized ecolabels and certifications through outstanding commitments and investments.
Pioneered by Booking.com, which recently marked the one year anniversary of the program, there are now more than 400,000 accommodations recognized globally by the Travel Sustainable program.
Recognized properties across Priceline, Agoda and KAYAK will now feature the Travel Sustainable badge in search results, with some platforms also implementing an additional filter to help travelers book more sustainable accommodations.
The program across brands provides recognition for properties that are taking steps to operate more responsibly with regards to their impact on the environment and their local communities, while encouraging partners to continue making progress towards the goal of eventual third-party certification, which remains the gold standard in the industry.
The combined effort across the company’s brand product teams to create the purpose-built, cross-enterprise API for the program is a signal of the potential for collaboration to drive greater sustainable impact across the travel industry by educating and empowering both partners and travelers to make sustainability a priority.
Furthermore, the milestone is a result of actions taken by Booking Holdings and its family of brands to deliver against key commitments outlined in the company’s Climate Action Plan, the first of its kind for any global online travel company, which was released earlier this year.
While accommodations are the first priority for the program, Booking Holdings will continue to evolve Travel Sustainable for transportation-related verticals to drive awareness of more sustainable options across more areas of a trip.
Efforts include features live today like KAYAK’s CO2 sorter, which allows travelers to sort their flight search by CO2 emissions, and filters for electric and hybrid rental cars now live across Booking.com, KAYAK and Priceline where inventory is available, with further innovation to come by the end of 2023.
“Sustainability is a core component of our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, and with this important step we are making progress towards ensuring there is always a world worth experiencing,” said Glenn Fogel, CEO, Booking Holdings.
“We remain committed to making our vision for more sustainable travel a reality through the breadth of our sustainable travel offerings, the size of our impact, and the potential of transparent, inclusive standards development to spur change for the whole sector. Together, we are creating a lower-impact travel industry.”
