NATIONAL REPORT—Experian recently listed its “Top 20 websites in the ‘Travel’ online industry for the month of December 2009, based on visits.” Among those sites—which include such well-known stops as Priceline.com and MapQuest—only three attempt to highlight green hotels. The three include Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia. Travelocity has a Green Hotel Directory that can be accessed through a “Green Travel” link on its home page. Site visitors not only have access to green hotels but also voluntourism opportunities and the option to offset their travel through The Conservation Fund’s Go Zero Program. Orbitz also has its own eco-travel microsite. It highlights eco-friendly destinations and lists green hotels by state. Expedia, which has an area on its site for green travel, is in the process of updating its site’s green hotels section.
According to Alison Presley, manager of Travelocity’s Travel for Good program, the sustainability-focused part of the Travelocity website was launched in August 2006. The Green Hotel Directory was added in January 2009 and a brand new Travel for Good microsite debuted at the end of 2009. The Green Hotel Directory currently includes more than 700 hotels drawn from what Presley says is a “long list” of organizations. Among the organizations: Green Seal, Green Key Global, Audubon Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program, and the Rainforest Alliance.
Travelocity bases its standards on The Baseline Criteria for Sustainable Tourism established by the Tourism Sustainability Council (TSC). Launched in October 2008, they provide a common understanding of sustainable tourism and focus on the most critical aspects of sustainable tourism: maximizing tourism’s social and economic benefits to local communities; reducing negative impacts on cultural heritage; reducing harm to local environments; and planning for sustainability. Travelocity’s Green Hotel Directory works with green hotel certifiers and programs whose standards closely align with TSC’s criteria.
Green Leaf Indicates Green Hotel
Presley says Travelocity is the first major online travel agency (OTA) to flag green hotels site-wide. Her staff is currently working to add more properties to the Directory; any size property is eligible to be included. Green properties include a green leaf icon followed by the words “Eco-Friendly Hotel.” While no structure is currently in place to highlight every property’s green initiatives in a standard format in their descriptions on Travelocity, Presley says hotels are free to include information on their green programs in their property summaries.
When asked whether or not those properties designated as “green” are generating more reservations than those that are not, Presley did not provide numbers. She did say, however, that Travelocity research found that 59 percent of their customers say a green hotel rating has an impact on their hotel selection decision.
Owners and operators of green establishments wishing to be noted as such on Travelocity should contact their local Travelocity representative.
Orbitz announced the addition of its eco-travel microsite in April 2007. A call to an Orbitz representative went unreturned but its website lists the green criteria used to determine which hotels it lists. The criteria includes: uses a natural source of energy, uses environmentally-friendly and safe products, contributes money from each hotel reservation to an environmental organization, and uses energy-saving devices, water-saving devices, water filtration systems and air filtration/purification systems. Orbitz lists those properties that have earned the Energy Star. Orbitz announced a partnership with the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program in April 2008. Marriott International, the hotel company with the most Energy Star rated hotels, is the company most represented on Orbitz’s microsite.
Expedia Revamping Green Section
Expedia, as mentioned earlier, is in the process of updating its site’s green section—a site area that was first launched in April 2008, according to Janice Lichtenwaldt, senior business development manager for the company. Initially, Expedia’s “green store” included a list of hotels that were drawn from different green hotel certification programs. Like Travelocity, Expedia relied on The Baseline Criteria for Sustainable Tourism to guide its certification program selection decisions.
Lichtenwaldt explained that even though the green microsite is not completely up and running, those member properties that indicate the green certification program they are involved with in their profile will have that information show up in the “Hotel preferences” area within a few business days. That information will be available to consumers whenever they do a search on “Green/Sustainable.”
Expedia’s microsite, which currently features a carbon offsetting program, tips for responsible travel, and other green travel information, is expected to be 100 percent operational by the end of the first quarter of this year or early in the second quarter. Those interested in participating in Expedia’s green site should contact their Expedia manager.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
