Misleading mentions? While accusations of “greenwashing” are multiplying in the travel sector, a new player has been singled out. On March 25, the famous reservation platform Booking.com, which allows you to reserve hotels and guest rooms, had to deactivate the “Travel Sustainable” program worldwide. In question, the Dutch Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) declared in a press release that this program “
constitutes a potentially misleading claim in terms of sustainability”. “This implies that traveling and staying in one of the accommodations affiliated with the program are sustainable, even if this is incorrect
,” alerted the public agency.
From now on, Internet users no longer see green leaves floating above certain establishments. In the Booking program, implemented in 2021, affiliated accommodations had “levels”, which corresponded to scores between 1 and 3+. They were calculated based on the sustainability efforts of the accommodation in question. Thus, one or more sheets were present to attest to these levels.
“Booking.com has committed to stopping using the Travel Sustainable claim and the scores associated with it. In addition, it will no longer use icons such as green leaves when presenting accommodations
,” the ACM said.
A new label to come
As the specialist magazine
L'Echo tourisme
recalls , the reservations site was content with declarative data and a
“minimalist methodology”
. Insufficient therefore to precisely establish such sustainability criteria. Last year, 500,000 accommodations had a “Sustainable Travel” badge. For its part, the Booking platform announced that it was working on a new label, which would be based on third-party sustainable development certifications.
“To date, more than 16,500 properties have third-party sustainability certification displayed on the platform
,” she explained in a press release.
“The goal is (...) to encourage hosting partners to move toward third-party certification.”
What finally meets some of the expectations of travelers? In April, Booking revealed a study according to which 77% of French people were keen to travel more sustainably over the next twelve months. The online booking giant will have to rise to the occasion.