GSTC – Sustainable Hotel News

Green Collection launched by Global Hotel Alliance

UAE: The Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), which is based in the UAE, has launched a new collection offering guests a more environmentally friendly choice.

UAE: The Global Hotel Alliance (GHA), which is based in the UAE, has launched a new collection offering guests a more environmentally friendly choice.

The move reflects the general ground swell of demand for more sustainable options. According to the latest report by the World Travel and Tourism Council, 69 per cent of travellers are actively looking for sustainable travel options this year.

The Green Collection includes more than 200 hotels and resorts operated by GHA hotel brands, which have all received at least one certification from an internationally-recognised environmental organisation. Among the 15 certification bodies assessing the collection are EarthCheck, Green Growth 2050, Green Key and Green Globe.

Most GHA brands have achieved certification for each property in their portfolio or are on their way to achieving this goal. Green Collection properties are taking action in line with the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria guidelines.

The hotels are also required to meet global standards for sustainability initiatives, with regular audits conducted by third-party groups to retain certification.

GHA CEO Chris Hartley said: “Across GHA’s 800 properties… there are some world-class examples of practices and initiatives with a positive environmental and social impact, and we are incredibly proud of these efforts, which we celebrate with the launch of Green Collection.”

The Green Collection helps GHA reiterate its alignment to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which guide the development of the hospitality industry for a more sustainable future.

Green Collection represents around 24 per cent of the GHA DISCOVERY portfolio and accounts for half of its brands, from mid-scale to high-end, including Anantara Hotels, Resorts & Spas, Avani Hotels & Resorts, Capella Hotels & Resorts, Corinthia Hotels, Elewana Collection, GLO Hotels, JA Resorts & Hotels, Kempinski Hotels, Marco Polo Hotels, NH Hotels, NH Collection, nhow, Niccolo Hotels, Oaks Hotels Resorts & Suites, Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts, Patina Hotels & Resorts, PARKROYAL COLLECTION, PARKROYAL, Sukhothai Hotels & Resorts, Outrigger Resorts & Hotels and The Set Collection.

You can read more about the UN’s SDGS here.

Image: GHA

Certification for sustainable hotels a “mess”

This area is complex, and the market is flooded… we look at how to navigate the sustainable certification market and what is worth a stamp of approval…

There are more than 200 companies worldwide offering sustainable accreditation and certification processes to hotels and hospitality groups. That’s a lot to choose from, and the quality and offerings vary widely from self assessment which is submitted to receive a stamp of approval, to in-depth audits and regular “health checks” to make sure the sustainability targets set are being met. It’s a headache for hotels and it’s a headache for guests looking for more sustainable stays.

Last year Booking.com released its 2022 Sustainability Report with insight from more than 30,000 travellers from 32 countries. The research highlighted that for many people the impact of their trip on the environment does feature highly on their considerations when booking. 57 per cent of travellers from the UK wanted to travel more sustainably in the next year, which is a 27 per cent increase on last year’s response. 71 per cent of travellers said that sustainable travel is important to them, and almost half of all respondents (42 per cent) cited that recent news about climate change has influenced them to make more sustainable travel choices.

This demand for more sustainable stays is unlikely to go away but the amount of different certifications for hotels makes it confusing for everyone.

Randy Durband, CEO of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council says: “GMs of hotels all over the world are confused – the big players [in accreditation] – who are the big players? There are too many of them to be big. They are all suffering from lack of scale.”

In this flooded market, there is no alignment, which makes it very difficult for hotels and guests to make sense of the different types of certification.

Of course there are a few big names which use a third party and have been around for decades, think of LEED and BREEAM, and more recently B Corp has shown it’s worth as one to be contended with (there are hoops to jump through and companies have to prove they are improving on their targets).

But what other sector allows so many award bodies to give out their own awards after “coaching” a company? For some reason hospitality allows this to happen a lot of the time without a third party involved. Some accreditation companies charge a hotel or group of hotels to fill out forms in order to get a stamp of approval. It’s like paying for a driving instructor to stamp that you’ve passed the test, after a few lessons.

As Randy Durband, CEO of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council says: “If you are going to follow international norms, we need to clean up the mess – certification is defined by ISO 17021. It is a judgement – not coaching.”

The GSTC was created by the UN to be the certifiers of certifiers. So it sets the standards for tourism across the board. Something the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance also backs.

Claire Whitely head of environment, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance says: ‘The GSTC are the certifiers of certifiers – they set the standards for what a robust certification should be and they cover environmental and social – all of sustainability and make sure certification recognised by them lives up to it. If accommodation providers are looking, I’d recommend the GSTC.”

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, which represents over 40,000 hotels, equating to more than seven million rooms, helps hotels and accommodation providers with their sustainability goals and processes including offering the free toolkit with carbon and water measurements. The idea is the Alliance can guide a hotel or group on their sustainability journey.

The Alliance launched its Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality this month, which provides a practical framework to enable every hotel to work towards net positive impacts. It doesn’t matter what stage the hotel or group is at on the journey to net zero, the Alliance will be there, and it backs the idea of a more aligned certification process.

The sustainable certification process will be one to watch in the sector. But those who embrace alignment and collaboration, as well as globally recognised third party approved standards, will be the ones moving forward with giant positive steps.

Accor enters partnership with Ecotourism Australia

AUSTRALASIA: Accor, which has more than 19 brands across Australia and the Pacific, has joined forces with Ecotourism Australia to certify all Accor hotels in the region.

AUSTRALASIA: Accor, which has more than 19 brands across Australia and the Pacific, has joined forces with Ecotourism Australia to certify all Accor hotels in the region.

Accor has entered into a strategic partnership with Ecotourism Australia to certify all Accor hotels, apartments and resorts across Australia and the Pacific as Sustainable Tourism certified businesses.

Ecotourism Australia’s Sustainable Tourism Certification programme was introduced in 2022 and the standard is recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).

Sustainable Tourism Certification is designed for all tourism operators and businesses in the tourism supply chain to meet and gain recognition for best practice sustainability initiatives.

Ecotourism Australia assesses businesses across the four pillars of sustainability: sustainable management, environmental impacts, cultural impacts, and socio-economic impacts for which each business is independently audited. The Sustainable Tourism Certification is an extension to the existing ECO Certification program that has been in Australia for more than two decades.

Ecotourism Australia CEO, Elissa Keenan, said, “We are delighted that Accor Pacific is leading the industry across Australia and New Zealand with this commitment to achieving international best practice sustainability using Ecotourism Australia’s 30 years’ experience in sustainable tourism. “

Accor has significant presence across the regions, including Ecotourism Australia certified ECO Destinations Port Douglas Daintree, Bundaberg and the Coffs Coast, and seventeen other regions currently undertaking certification, and throughout regional areas and capital cities.

Keenan added: “This is a key partnership for our organisations and we look forward to working with Accor properties across [its] hotel, apartment and resort brands on sustainable and responsible tourism practices.”

Sarah Derry, CEO of Accor Pacific, said: “Sustainability is redefining our business model and we are proud to lead the industry forward by investing in our sustainability actions and activities in the region. Our next phase of growth is built on our powerful sense of social, environmental and economic responsibility.”

In 2022 Accor Pacific removed 43 single use plastic items such as individual toiletries from guest facing areas in more than 80 per cent of its hotels.

In 2023 it has committed to taking these actions further into the removal of single use plastics from back of house operations, micro plastics in laundries and by finding an appropriate long term solution to replace plastic water bottles.

Derry added: “We know there is a lot more to do and our teams will continue to focus on driving sustainability actions. There are no limits to our ambition.”

From luxury to economy, Accor has 19 international brands across Australia, New Zealand, Fiji and French Polynesia, including Sofitel, MGallery, Art Series, Pullman, Swissôtel, Mövenpick, Grand Mercure, Peppers, The Sebel, Mantra, Handwritten Collection, Novotel, Mercure, Tribe, BreakFree, ibis, ibis Styles, ibis budget and Ennismore’s So.

Last year Radisson Hotel Group joined the GSTC as well as Trip.com and CWT (One of the world’s leading Travel Management Companies).

TUI aims for all hotels and resorts to be zero carbon by 2030

WORLDWIDE: TUI has pledged its hotels and resorts worldwide will reach carbon zero emissions by 2030.

WORLDWIDE: TUI has pledged its hotels and resorts worldwide will reach carbon zero emissions by 2030.

The company has also committed to reduce its emissions on its cruises and airlines package holidays over the next seven years, and aims to be net zero across all operations and supply chains by 2050.

For the hotels and resorts, this means working with renewable energy and practising resource saving operational activities. As well as reducing food waste by 25 per cent by 2030, in the next two years TUI aims to eliminate all “unnecessary” plastic packaging and items.

TUI is using science-based stats as a baseline for its sustainability efforts starting from its reporting and stats from 2019, and is working with the GSTC to achieve its sustainability goals.

TUI’s agenda is built on its long standing historical efforts with 54m holidays delivered to hotels independently certified as sustainable between 2015 – 2022. A quarter of TUI hotels already generate green power on-site from solar and the company wants to enable 20m customers by 2030 to be able to book a sustainable stay – so it will be interesting to see what happens with the booking process (Google and Booking.com offer a sustainable stay search option).

Sebastian Eble CEO Tui Group says: “Sustainability is a top priority for me personally and for TUI. We have proven in the past that we have the expertise and the right approach to make tourism more sustainable. That’s why we don’t see sustainability as a threat – for us, it’s an opportunity. We wanted to be led by the latest climate science, which is why we are working with the Science Based Targets initiative.”

As an experiment into sustainable practices TUI also has its development on Rhodes, which is being used to create a beacon for sustainable tourism. The project is run with both the TUI Group and the government of the South Agean, the Greek Government and TUI Care Foundation. The five year experiment which began in 2022 has 27 projects being tested for measurements and statistics to create a blueprint for future sustainable hotels and resorts. Actions at the Rhodes development include reducing plastic, and food waste, roadmaps to make the island carbon neutral and up-skilling tourism workers.

For more information on TUI’s sustainable efforts and roadmap see the PDF on the Sustainability page on the website.

Partnership formed for best practice in sustainable hospitality tourism

UK: The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council have formed a partnership to consolidate best practice in sustainable hospitality and tourism.

UK: The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council have formed a partnership to consolidate best practice in sustainable hospitality and tourism.

This new partnership will bring together the Alliance’s hospitality industry reach and measurement expertise, with the GSTC’s experience in sustainability standards and assurance, to enhance the industry’s understanding of sustainability criteria and the need to capture robust sustainability data.

Over recent years, greenwashing has become a widespread issue globally and across every industry, as companies all too often use sustainability language to present a positive image, without evidence of any real impact.

Within the hospitality industry, the number of ways in which companies are required to report ESG data for different stakeholders and countries, can also lead to difficulties in benchmarking companies and therefore difficult to establish best practice.

Solving this issue will be at the core of this new collaboration – combining the GSTC Criteria, accreditation programme and training opportunities with the Alliance’s industry leadership and bank of pioneering tools and initiatives.

Glenn Mandziuk, CEO of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance said: “We’re so pleased to be working in partnership with the GSTC. Our organisations have long understood the power of the hospitality and tourism industries as a vehicle for positive lasting change and have been working to measure and monitor this positive impact. Now is the time to unite our expertise, embedding sustainability criteria across the industry and ensuring every hotel has the tools and guidance needed to become a more regenerative business, that gives back more than it takes.”

Randy Durband, CEO of GSTC added: “GSTC is increasingly supporting the development of universal measurement tools for sustainability in order to facilitate businesses assessing, benchmarking, and improving their performance on each of the criteria within the GSTC Criteria, and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s work on sustainable measurement in hospitality is critical to that effort. We have engaged with the Alliance for many years but are pleased to formalise and expand our partnership.”

Image: Google Pexels