Bookdifferent stay green check

staygreencheck

Thanks to the staygreencheck, you know whether it’s good. We know that looking for sustainable hotels and accommodations can sometimes feel like looking for a needle in a haystack. Given the choice of a more green or less green place to stay, who wouldn’t want to book the option that is better for our planet and ourselves? But we know it’s not always that straight forward – or clearcut. And so we’ve come up with a solution to make booking green accommodations easy: the bookdifferent.com staygreencheck.

What is a sustainable accommodation? It’s a fair question. And unfortunately, along with the rise of interest in sustainable travel, there has also been an increase in those keen to benefit from the ‘eco movement’ for marketing purposes. Not every hotel or homestay that has eco in the name is necessarily eco.

So, to help overcome this challenge (often referred to as ‘greenwashing’) we enlisted the help of industry experts and got back to the data. At bookdifferent.com we work with ecolabels to determine which accommodations are sustainable. What’s more, we only work with ecolabels that have their standard transparent, and perform on-the-spot rigourous checks on their accommodations by third party auditors. Every accommodation that is certified by one of these ecolabels receives the staygreencheck.

 

management

effective sustainable management and compliance with law

In order to guarantee long-term sustainability, a strategy and a system must be set up and a responsible person must be appointed within the organization to ensure that these strategies and activities are structurally implemented, maintained and measured. In addition, it is important that national and regional laws are respected and included in the standard.

fair & local

fair and equal treatment for employees and destinations

Sustainable tourism offers possibilities or opportunities for those working in hotels and the travel sector. We want to ensure that we only promote accommodations that protect their employees and their children against any form of exploitation. We are looking for accommodations that offer employment and equal rights and opportunities without discrimination based on gender, race, religion, disability or otherwise. This also includes the fact that tourism offers equal economic opportunities for everyone. Our wish is to ensure that all residents of the local destinations benefit from this.

culture friendly

respect for local traditions

Culture is something that needs to be celebrated and protected. Culture is even one of the main reasons why many of us travel. We look for accommodations that nurture individual and community identity, promote social cohesion and contribute to the creation of social capital at the destination. Attention to the local culture will lead to more involvement of the travellers at the destination and will ensure that the sense of belonging is promoted and the cultural identity of a destination is increased.

nature & environment

taking care of mother earth

All human activities have an impact on the planet, including our hotel stays and travel choices. For example, does a hotel have a ban on plastic bottles or does the hotel promote zero waste? Are they efficient with their water use? Have they used sustainable materials? We look at the environmental initiatives that have taken place to minimize their (negative) impact on the environment, as well as all measures they have taken to prevent or minimize the disturbance of the local fauna.

how does the staygreencheck work?

Every accommodation that is certified by an ecolabel we work with receives the staygreencheck. Click here to see by which ecolabels the hotels are certified.

We automatically show the most sustainable hotels at the top of the search results for any destination you search for on bookdifferent.com – so the first hotels you’ll see are the greenest, by default.

You’ll also see a symbol made up of four ‘hearts’ next to each accommodation listing. These hearts represent the staygreencheck criteria: Management , Fair & Social, Culture friendly and Nature & Environment.

 

the greener, the better!

greenest choice
almost perfect
on a roll
pretty nice
no green label

no staygreencheck? use your common sense!

We know that there are sustainable accommodations out there, that have not joined up with an ecolabel yet.

Many small scale accommodations (typically the ones that do not have ecolabels) can be green solutions. For instance, think of a farm stay which uses solar power, serves fresh organic produce from their farm for breakfast, and employs locals. Those are exactly the things we love to see at bookdifferent.com! Yet this place has no ecolabel and so we don’t show the green ‘heart’ on bookdifferent.com… yet!

It’s currently not possible for us to check all of the small properties individually, but we are looking into this to see what we can do to provide a solution in the future.

So when you need to book an accommodation and there is no staygreencheck available, book an accommodation with a low carbon footprint thus with a green foot. We also want to advise you to use your best judgement to make a good choice to find your perfect place to stay. Book your accommodation with a staygreencheck now.

 

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