In March, Booking.com removed the Travel Sustainable badge from their platform: “In anticipation of upcoming regulatory changes, we’re adapting our approach to focus more on third-party certification from 25 March.” It is reasonable to assume that this is because of the impact of the EU Green Claims Directive. This directive is intended to protect consumers from greenwashing by requiring companies to substantiate their green claims and to impose penalties on those making claims that cannot be substantiated. Businesses that market to customers resident or purchasing from within the EU will be required to comply. Booking.com is taking this action to ensure that it complies with the directive as it is rolled out across the EU through national legislation.
In 2020, the EU Commission reported that over 50% of examined environmental claims in the EU were vague, misleading, or unfounded, and 40% were unsubstantiated. Their objective is to provide reliable information, transparency, and legal certainty. The danger is that SMMEs in particular will be unable to comply because of the costs and legal complexities.
Booking.com now requires third-party certification to make sustainability claims
“Third-party certifications signify the highest standard of recognition of commitment to sustainability. These certifications enhance credibility and ensure confidence in the sustainability efforts of your property. Certifications help bring more clarity regarding sustainability communication and make it easier for travellers to make more informed choices,” they explain.
Booking.com plans to continue to support its partners on its platform on their sustainability journey by “making it easier for travellers to make more informed and sustainable choices. That’s why, in addition to showcasing your practices to guests on your property pages, we’re continuing to invest in education materials and tools, from resources on the Partner Hub to new online courses developed in partnership with UN Tourism.”
So what’s the problem?
Only properties which have invested in a third-party certification scheme will be showcased. Booking.com are explicit about this: “on our platform, we showcase properties that have achieved independent third-party certification by adding a clear label and the ability to filter by certified properties, so they can be easily spotted by guests looking to reduce their negative impact when travelling.”
Booking.com is in an alliance through Travalyst with Expedia and Google. They have recognised that there is a problem with certification, there is a “vast number of certification schemes and bodies in the industry”. Travlyst has identified “four initial methods our partners can use to verify the data they collect”:
- Checkbox claims: Use of a checkbox function where properties declare that they have filled in the information truthfully and that they understand that if they have not they will be in breach of the relevant platform’s terms and conditions.
- Customer verification: Use of a guest check-out survey or review where questions can be included to help understand if a guest saw something which the property declared was/was not there (appropriate for some, but not all, attributes)
- Third-party certification: As discussed above, the use of a number of third-party certifications that properties have been awarded; all of which have their own robust verification methods to ensure data accuracy.
- External audits: Use of the services of a third-party auditor to validate all attributes selected by the property.
Verification methods 1, 3, and 4 are expensive and do not verify that the measures that are supposed to be in operation actually are. Verification method 2 is the most reliable. The guests are there regularly and can report if the lights and TV are on in the room, the thermostats are set too low, or the hotel has overridden the key card switch in the room by inserting a piece of card.
Thomas Loughlin, Sustainability Manager Supply at Booking.com – Making it easier to find and book more sustainable experiences, has just been at Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) conference in Stockholm. Two of his key takeaways are the importance of measuring sustainability and data quality.
Quite so, but transparency and informed consumers are key. Only then can a guest choose a hotel that does not have single-use plastics, has good employment conditions or uses water sparingly.
Weeva provides a comprehensive data tool for hospitality, enabling businesses to “Create beautiful, accurate sustainability reports directly from your bespoke dashboard. Now you can finally show off your hotel’s sustainability story to your stakeholders with the highest degree of trust, transparency, and ease.”
The consumer who finds a hotel operating unsustainably has no redress against the certification agency with which they have no contract, and the certified business is safe as it is not making an unsubstantiated claim.
As I wrote here back in March: “Certification may be the safest form of greenwashing. It certainly denies consumers information about what sustainability measures the business delivers and any means of holding the business to account for misselling.”
