AMSTERDAM—Thousands of green certified hotels in North America may soon be listed on BookDifferent.com, a hotel booking site that has been up and running since last June. Based in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, BookDifferent.com last week announced that more than 1,000 eco-labeled hotels had already been noted as such on its site with a green heart icon. The hotels include Green Globe Certification labeled properties as well as those hotels that are part of Green Key, a program of the Foundation for Environmental Education (not Green Key Global). According to Bastiaan Fronik, BookDifferent’s chairman, he recently has been contacted by representatives of certification organizations with a presence in North America who are interested in having their green labeled hotels listed on BookDifferent.com.
“We would be happy to have multiple labels represented on our site,” Fronik said. “There will be no exclusivity on labels.”
In addition to Green Key and Green Globe Certification certified properties, Fronik said more than 2,000 accommodations that are part of the Green Tourism Business Scheme in the United Kingdom will soon be added to BookDifferent.com. In addition, for those hotels working with The Carbon Accounting Company to have their carbon footprints calculated, “We are going to show carbon footprint per room night,” Fronik said.
Eco-label is Search Criterion
Finding sustainable hotels on the BookDifferent website is easy. The eco-label is a search criterion which can be selected just like the hotel facilities, the number of stars or district.
Reservations made through BookDifferent.com are processed by Booking.com, a booking engine that has been up and running since 1996 and that is part of Priceline.com. Booking.com, a prominent player in Europe, just announced a new ad campaign targeted toward U.S. consumers this past week called Booking.yeah.
Unique to BookDifferent.com is its commitment to supporting charitable causes. As a foundation and not a for-profit company, BookDifferent.com donates 50 percent of its revenues to the charities its bookers select. There are currently 51 charities from which to choose and Fronik said that list will continue to grow as the company expands its reach outside of The Netherlands.
BookDifferent.com currently has more than 245,000 accommodations listed. Accommodations are listed via an online form or by contacting one of Booking.com’s many global sales representatives.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
