Booking.com has introduced new product features to help travellers make more mindful choices for their trips.
As it marks the one-year anniversary of its Travel Sustainable programme, the platform is launching three badge levels for its featured accommodation.
Level 1 is a new entry level badge indicating that a property has implemented some impactful sustainability practices, which will show up with one leaf and includes a full display of all practices that have been implemented.
Level 2 will be indicated with two leaves and will be allocated to properties which have made considerable investments and efforts to implement impactful sustainability practices.
The Level 3 badge (three leaves) is reserved for those accommodations that have made large investments and efforts to implement impactful sustainability practices, but have not yet achieved an official third-party certification.
Booking.com says the new levels will help illustrate a clearer pathway for accommodations to work towards eventual certification, especially those that might be at an earlier stage in their sustainability journey, and will also help encourage and incentivise more accommodations to continue making progress towards that goal.
Accommodations that have made huge commitments towards sustainability, including the additional effort and investment to achieve one of 40-plus credible third-party certifications, will receive the highest level of recognition as part of the Travel Sustainable programme.
These will be recognised with a certified badge, including the name of their certification.
The new badge levels will start to appear on the Booking.com website and app over the course of the coming weeks, with refreshed visuals to clearly distinguish the new levels of the programme.
Meanwhile, a new search filter for fully-electric and hybrid rental cars is now live across the Booking.com app and website, making it easier for travellers to find more sustainable ground transport options for their next road trip.
As part of Booking.com’s partnership with climate tech company CHOOSE, carbon emissions data for accommodation bookings in Europe will be displayed for the first time on the platform.
The aim is also to explore how to best integrate offsetting options as part of the booking process in an understandable and seamless way. The new features will first go live for accommodation options in Europe, with the intent to expand globally.
Booking.com will also start providing information about the carbon emissions associated with flight options on the platform.
The total carbon emissions footprint for a selected flight will start to be shown on the flight details page over the coming weeks. The option to sort flight searches based on this carbon emissions data will be introduced in 2023.
“As we optimise and develop our Travel Sustainable programme further, our ambition is to continue making it easier for everyone to make more sustainable choices for their next trip,” said Danielle D’Silva, Head of Sustainability at Booking.com.
“We’re examining every part of the trip on our platform and actively looking for ways to provide more information to travellers in a credible and trusted way. Whether it’s an apartment for a weekend getaway, an electric car for their upcoming road trip or carbon emissions data about a flight, our aim is to nudge our customers and partners towards these more responsible options and do our part to ensure a healthier future for our planet and industry.”
