PALMA, Spain, 23 April 2021: Hotelbeds, a leading bedbank, has today welcomed global hotel chains IHG Hotels & Resorts and Accor to its Green Hotel Programme.
IHG and Accor are the latest industry players to join the programme, which was launched in October 2020 to promote sustainable tourism within the Hotelbeds portfolio.
Their properties join thousands of hotels that are now certified as sustainable and promoted as such to Hotelbeds’ 60,000 travel trade clients via the ‘green filter’ that also includes details of certifications and offer tags.
The Green Hotels Programme is a turn-key solution to bring Hotelbeds and its partners into the green economy and accelerate the transition of the travel industry towards sustainability – a topic whose importance has increased dramatically in light of the COVID pandemic.
To certify the +15,000 properties included in the Programme, Hotelbeds partnered with global certification companies to identify fully certified hotel properties following the criteria set by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), the leading global authority in setting and management standards for sustainable travel and tourism.
The criteria are organised around four main themes – effective sustainability planning, maximising social and economic benefits for the local community, enhancing cultural heritage and reducing negative impacts on the environment.
“This latest announcement comes just a few weeks after we became one of the first travel companies to join Amazon and The Climate Pledge Commitment to become net-zero carbon by 2040 as well as actively participating in the World Travel & Trade Council’s Sustainability Workforce,” said Hotelbeds marketing, communications & CSR director Gareth Matthews.
