The HRS Green stay Initiative

PROVIDING A STANDARD TO REPORT, REDUCE AND REMOVE EMISSIONS

Collecting, measuring and comparing the environmental impact of hotel stays has been an extremely hard endeavor during RFPs and while booking, signaling the need for an end-to-end approach to report, reduce and remove emissions. HRS’s global clients have aggressive goals to reach their internal climate action goals to meet government laws and regulations such as the CSRD. In response to their request for access to transparent sustainability data, HRS developed the ISO-certified Green Stay Initiative (GSI).

Based on industry approaches such as the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI), the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and work by the World Travel & Tourism Council, the GSI gives businesses a standardized way to compare the sustainability of different hotel stays to reduce and remove emissions.

HOW THE GREEN STAY INITIATIVE WORKS

GREEN STAY INITIATIVE ASSURANCE

Since its launch in 2021, the Green Stay Initiative has received multiple awards and had a tangible impact on hotel procurement and booking.

Green Stay is now officially certified by GUTCert under the ISO 14067:2019‑02 and Greenhouse Gas Protocol for Corporate Accounting and Reporting standards, ensuring the highest level of credibility of the methodology to collect and calculate the carbon footprint of hotel stays and meetings. This certification provides both hotels and corporates with a trusted methodology to enhance sustainability efforts and comply with evolving regulations in the European Union and other regions. A consistently growing number of Fortune 500 companies use the GSI as part of their hotel procurement processes across the globe, with some, like Siemens, even mandating its use. HRS won in each of its categories at the 2022 Sustainability Awards held by Business Travel News for the Americas. Highlights included:

→ Achievement in Sustainable Innovation: “The Green Stay Initiative addresses a big gap in the hotel industry. It received high marks for market penetration and global adoption, and it has significant data to support the reduction of CO2 emissions.”

→ Achievement in Advancing Sustainability Data & Reporting: “The judges commended (GSI) for the strongest annual results and specific metrics in a much-needed vertical market that helps drive the entire industry forward in the area of sustainable data and reporting for the accommodation sector.”

Since 2021, Green Stay has continued to be recognized for its contribution to sustainable travel and has won numerous awards covering the topics of sustainable innovation, products and services.

GREEN STAY IN PRACTICE

The Green Stay Initiative is the only ISO-certified global framework to collect and normalize property-level sustainability data of hotels and meeting spaces.

This data enables corporate travel managers who increasingly have responsibility for sustainability, to source and book hotels with a lower carbon footprint, helping meet their company’s sustainability goals on the road to net zero. The three Green Stay levels – Basic, Advanced and Professional – allow hotels to effectively communicate where they’re at on their sustainability journey.

In 2024, Green Stay hotels are projected to see a further 17% improvement with nearly 8 million room nights booked in Green Stay hotels. With hotel occupancy levels plateauing on average at 60%, hotels have a significant opportunity to fill more rooms by attracting environmentally conscious travellers. As such, Green Stay hotels are seeing financial gains from their engagement with sustainable practices.

Travellers from Japan, the UK, China and Spain have shown the highest propensity to book sustainable hotel options with 26% – 34% more bookings being made in Green Stay hotels in 2024 when compared to 2023.

DECARBONIZING THE BUSINESS TRAVEL SUPPLY CHAIN

With the sustainability focus moving to Scope 3 emissions and with 81% of buyers seeking to implement sustainability practices for their business travel, the focus necessarily moves to the decarbonization of the supply chain.

Scope 3 emissions are created by upstream and downstream activities that bring a product or service to the market and, on average, make up 80% of a Corporate Carbon Footprint (CCF). These emissions include that of business travel. By implementing a sustainable procurement strategy, including hotel sourcing, companies can tackle Scope 3 emissions and move towards achieving their net-zero targets.

As highlighted in the 2023 GBTA report, 76% of travel buyers are integrating or planning to integrate sustainability questions into their RFPs, and 63% are selecting or planning to select suppliers based on sustainability criteria. HRS’ ProcureTech customers place a high importance on the selection of sustainable properties in their RFP’s for 2024 and 2025, and suppliers are responding to this demand. Findings from the 2022 Green Lodging Trends Report show that over 60% of hotels are planning to or are already implementing carbon reduction measures, and over 40% are measuring their carbon emissions. The implementation of sustainability measures, including the participation in the science based Green Stay Initiative has had a direct impact on RFP success, with Green Stay hotels winning 22% more RFP’s than non Green Stay hotels for 2024 programs.

Given the business benefits for hotels in being able to implement and accurately report on their environmental footprint, science based evidence of these activities, as demonstrated in HRS’ Green Stay Initiative become essential to their business success far broader than simply commercial.

Hotels with the highest Green Stay Assessment Level are benefitting from the greatest increase in room nights year-on-year, with Professional Level hotels receiving a 19% yearon-year increase in room nights. This confirms that hotels that invest in certified science-based sustainability certification programs will benefit from tangible business improvements. Conversely, those hotels that do not make the investment, will lose corporate business as well as risking regulatory penalties. In 2024, only 1% of Green Stay hotels have achieved the Professional accreditation, so there is much to be gained for hotels. 55% have achieved Advanced which demonstrates that the industry is well on its way to improved sustainability practices but further investment will yield both financial and environmental benefits.

HRS Top 4 Customers are also seeing strong results:

RECENT FINDINGS FROM THE HRS GREEN STAY INITIATIVE SHOW SIGNIFICANT CARBON EMISSION REDUCTION ACROSS THE WORLD, DESPITE AN INCREASE IN HOTEL STAYS

The actual carbon footprint in the first half of 2024 is far lower than in the same period of 2023 due to the implementation of sustainability strategies from procurement to booking, which increased the use of more sustainable properties. Based on projections drawn from bookings made in the first six months of 2024, HRS clients will reserve an additional 2.5 million room nights on top of 2023 totals at GSI-rated hotels worldwide.

This shows that sustainability is becoming a key element for hotels to attract more business and offer even better conditions to customers. Contrary to the common sense that sustainability comes with a premium, the Green Stay database shows that, on average, the 25% most efficient hotels within Green Stay have offered ADRs 17% cheaper than the 25% most polluting hotels. This shows a correlation between the decarbonization of hotels and their capacity to offer better prices.

Carbon emissions are lower overall by 27%, water consumption by 4.6%.