17 July 2010

Tourists prefer green hotels

Travelocity Finds That Green Hotels Get Higher Overall Ratings in Customer Reviews

Not only are green hotels better for the environment, travelers overwhelmingly prefer them. This week Travelocity announced that eco-friendly hotels get higher consumer reviews than their non-green counterparts. To celebrate this, the company has kicked off the It’s Good to Be Green sale with special deals on green hotels that have great reviews.

"This data confirms something we’ve long suspected"

Travelocity allows consumers to rate its hotels on a scale of 1-5 smiley faces. When the company studied the reviews for green hotels, a fascinating trend emerged. Consumers gave 83 percent of non-green hotels three smiley faces or more--but they gave a whopping 94 percent of green hotels three smiley faces or more. "This data confirms something we’ve long suspected," says

Alison Presley, manager of Travelocity’s Travel for Good® program. "Our eco-friendly hotels care deeply about the entire experience they provide and that attention to detail translates into an awesome stay overall."

The company has more than 2,000 hotels in its Green Hotel Directory and the company works with an elite group of certification programs to ensure that each hotel in its program is making significant strides in sustainability. Travelocity is the only major online travel company that flags green hotels site-wide with an eco-friendly tag and the company holds the line against "greenwashing" by not accepting "self-certified" hotels. For the It’s Good to Be Green sale, travelers can save up to 30 percent on more than 160 eco-friendly hotels around the world that have an average rating of 3.5 smiley faces or higher.

Travelocity doesn’t just promote eco-friendly products--the company is also working hard to reduce its own footprint and to promote sustainability within the travel industry. The company’s sustainability efforts start at home with its LEED-certified Silver headquarters. And to date, Travelocity and its customers have helped The Conservation Fund plant more than 24,000 trees across five national wildlife refuges that will trap an estimated 25,400 metric tons of CO2 over the life of those forests.

The company is also a founding member of the Tourism Sustainability Council, which is working toward a more sustainable future for the industry.

ValereTjolle
Valere Tjolle is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite, special offer at: www.travelmole.com/stories/1142003.php

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Your Comments (4)

Clarification

Victoria, you're taking that part of my comment too literally, although I believe that the more ostentatious a hotel or resort becomes in order to attract its targeted market (that craves luxury at all costs) the more unnecessary energy, chemicals and waste etc it produces. Some will offset with carbon credits, others install renewable energy & implement genuine eco practices but these I'm afraid are very few and far between. In my region of the world people may decide emotively, but shop on price. The hotel's green credential will have no bearing on the outcome unless all other factors are equal and that scenario is not likely to present itself.

By john nicholls, Monday, July 19, 2010
Tourists prefer green hotels

Why do you think John that there has to be a choice between being Green and comfort & service. The businesses I audit for the Green Tourism Business Scheme manage to do both.

By Victoria Sutherland, Monday, July 19, 2010
Let's stop kidding ourselves.

Agree with Hans, my Book On Line accommodation business takes sustainable tourism very seriously, including our manner in presenting & qualifying green hotels, however for the past four years we have found that it has not made one once of difference. The deciding factor has allways been and still is price. Gee weez wonder why discount & last minute sites are doing so well if the opposite is happening, travellers are putting green before their comfort & services... I wish!

By john nicholls, Monday, July 19, 2010
and then your other post ...

seriously, when you give a person the choice between green and dumpster, do you really expect anyone to not vote for green? Pose the next Q to them: how many cars do you drive? Or, take your own post here: http://www.travelmole.com/stories/1143306.php?mpnlog=1

By Hans Nix, Sunday, July 18, 2010