At this year’s prestigious Global Summit held in Manila, the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has launched its Hotel Sustainability Basics, a globally recognised and coordinated set of minimum indicators that all hotels should implement to drive responsible travel and tourism and to help every hotel address and improve their environmental impact.

In response to the overwhelming evidence of climate change, environmental damage and social need, and the increasing requirements of travelers to book sustainable stays, the hospitality industry has come together to launch Hotel Sustainability Basics. Developed by the industry for the industry, the Hotel Sustainability Basics establishes a globally recognized set of minimum indicators that all hotels should implement and sets a common definition of hotel sustainability to drive responsible travel and tourism, which will help raise the base level of sustainability across the entire hospitality industry by providing every hotel a starting point on their sustainability journey.

The Basics’ twelve criteria focus on actions which are fundamental to hotel sustainability and address tourism’s impact on the planet across a spectrum of critical issues such as water usage, waste production, and resource procurement. These criteria include actions to measure and reduce energy use, measure and reduce water use, identify and reduce waste, and measure and reduce carbon emissions. The criteria also include a linen reuse program, use of green cleaning products, the elimination of plastic straws, stirrers, and single-use plastic water bottles, the implementation of bulk amenity dispensers, as well as measures to benefit local communities. The Hotel Sustainability Basics features different stages to support hotels that are just getting started as well as those who are more advanced in their sustainability performance. For example, eight of the twelve criteria are mandatory, whilst others can be committed to and implemented within the first three years.

The WTTC’s Hotel Sustainability Basics have been developed in collaboration with the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance industry, technical experts, and academics. The initiative has already gained support from major groups and hotel associations around the world representing over 50,000 hotels.*

The WTTC, together with the above-mentioned group of initial supporters, is calling upon hotel operators, owners, associations, and investors around the world to endorse the initiative officially and implement its criteria. Together with top brands, associations and destinations in the industry representing over 50,000 hotels, Radisson Hotel Group has launched the Hotel Sustainability Basics, a common and inclusive definition of hotel sustainability to drive responsible travel & tourism. Criteria include twelve actions which are fundamental to hotel sustainability

Federico J. González, CEO Radisson Hotel Group, said: “Our world needs Sustainable solutions, and we know the crucial decade of action to move towards Net Zero by 2050, is now. These ambitious targets can only be reached by taking everyone in the hospitality industry on the sustainability journey. With the Hotel Sustainability Basics, we collectively define the common starting point accessible to all hotels and the industry framework to grow sustainable travel.

“I am pleased to see that the hotel sector is taking a coordinated and non-competitive way forward to facilitate a true and effective response to the climate change challenge we face. Hotel Sustainability Basics are a first step that will help every hotel to get started on their sustainability journey faster, with clarity and transparency and answering to our customers’ needs and demands for sustainable travel options that are easy to understand. This will move us at Radisson Hotel Group, together with our owners Jin Jiang International, and the whole industry closer towards the ultimate target of Net Zero.”

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “We are launching the Hotel Sustainability Basics to ensure no hotel, however small, is left behind in the drive to introduce a basis sustainability measures within a minimum level the next three years. Sustainability is non-negotiable but not every small hotel has access to the science on how to make a difference. This gives everyone access to a global standard and provides consumers to travel with conference. WTTC wants the hospitality industry to lead by example so that sustainability becomes the basic requirement used to drive change forward for this generation and the next.”

With its long heritage and experience as an industry pioneer in sustainability Radisson Hotel Group has made a strong commitment to Net Zero by 2050, in line with the SBTi Net Zero Standard, and to set emission reduction targets based in climate science. The implementation of the eight foundational elements of the Hotel Sustainability Basics in all our hotels worldwide by the end of 2023 is one of these important short-term steps on the pathway to the Group’s ambitious decarbonization target.

* Hotel Sustainability Basics has been supported by amongst others by Accor, Barceló Hotel Group, Huazhu, including its affiliate Deutsche Hospitality, Indian Hotels Company Limited, Jin Jiang International (Holdings) Co., Ltd. including its affiliates Jin Jiang Hotels, Louvre Hotels Group and Radisson Hotel Group, Meliá Hotels International, and Minor Hotels including NH Hotel Group.

Radisson Hotel Group
Radisson Hotel Group is one of the world’s largest hotel groups with nine distinctive hotel brands, and more than 1,700 hotels in operation and under development in 120 countries. The Group’s overarching brand promise is Every Moment Matters with a signature Yes I Can! service ethos. The Radisson Hotel Group portfolio includes Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Radisson Individuals, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, and prizeotel brought together under one commercial umbrella brand Radisson Hotels. More than 100,000 team members work at Radisson Hotel Group and at the hotels licensed to operate in its systems.