American Express GBT and Cvent, a sourcing technology provider, have created a new set of sourcing questions to help drive corporate responsibility within the business travel and meetings sector.

They say the questions – relating to sustainability and diversity, equity and inclusion – will make the process of collecting and exchanging pertinent information more efficient as corporate travel managers and suppliers enter the 2022 sourcing season.

Meanwhile, hotels be able to more quickly respond to custom requests for related information.

The initiative was developed by GBT’s Global Business Consulting (GBC) team and Cvent, in cooperation with participants across the industry.

Nina Marcello, a Principal within GBC, first proposed the initiative.

“As we accelerate the return to travel and events, customer requests for supplier data on corporate responsibility issues are soaring,” she said.

“This initiative reflects our own environmental, social and governance commitments and enables suppliers and travel managers around the world to further their corporate responsibility goals.”

The questions were formed after more than three months of speaking to corporations, global hotel brands, TMCs and consultancies.

They include requests for details about carbon emissions and leadership demographics and supplement the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) module in the GBTA 2013 RFP format and will be supported in Cvent Transient for use by corporate buyers.

Brian Sullivan, Senior Director of Product Management at Cvent, said: “The speed at which we developed these questions reflects the significance of this work, and they are already being used by our hotel clients. This initiative benefits the entire corporate travel supply chain by facilitating the sharing and reporting of important topics that impact every organisation.”

The updated CSR questions were released to hoteliers in July and will be available to buyers in Cvent Transient from September.