Google labels eco-certified hotels as sustainable travel demand rises, listing their practices based on 29 certification programmes to help travellers make more informed decisions

A global survey released in June by Booking.com laid bare the new expectations of travellers: some 83 per cent of 29,000 respondents said they found sustainable travel to be vital, with 61 per cent noting that the coronavirus pandemic had increased their interest in travelling sustainably.

Half added that finding a hotel with actual eco credibility wasn’t easy – and they’re right. Hotels that take sustainability seriously don’t often shout it from the rooftops, while others tout themselves as green just for offering an option to skip the daily laundering of linen.

The most significant new tool comes courtesy of Google. From September 22, it has been labelling hotels as “Eco-Certified” in global search results, with a leaf-shaped icon next to the hotel’s name. Clicking on the “About” tab will detail the property’s specific sustainability practices, such as having water use audited by an independent organisation or using energy from carbon-free sources.

The new feature relies on 29 certification programmes to do the hard work of establishing a hotel’s green credibility; the property must have an array of sustainability measures audited by third-party experts. It’ll be up to hotel staff, rather than the search engine, to update hotel listings, using the free Google My Business Profile.

The move is intended to offer travellers more transparency against greenwashing, which runs rampant in the hospitality industry. It also responds to increased search volume around eco-travel buzz words. The term “green hotel”, for instance, has quadrupled in search volume since March 2020, according to Google Trends.