The World Travel & Tourism Council's (WTTC) Hotel Sustainability Basics verification (Basics) has achieved a significant milestone, with over 1,700 hotels verified across 70 countries.

Launched in 2023, Basics aims to enhance sustainability ratings for hoteliers globally and offers an easy-to-understand verification for the public.

The independent global sustainability programme, overseen by Green Key and SGS, is designed to empower hotels of all sizes to reduce carbon emissions, promote nature conservation and ensure local communities benefit from their operations.

The initiative emerged as a result of strong sector demand and is made up of 12 key criteria grouped into three areas. These include:

• Efficiency – which includes measuring and reducing energy and water consumption, waste and carbon emissions.

• Planet – which includes some fundamental actions to protect the environment, such as replacing single-use plastics, a bed linen reuse programme, increasing the use of certified green cleaning products or having vegetarian menu options.• People – which includes actions that hotels should take to ensure they’re making a positive contribution to the communities in which they’re located and initiatives to reduce inequalities in employment within the hotel team or the broader community via supply chain choices.

Hotels groups from major travel and tourism destinations including France, China, Mexico, India, Germany, South Africa, the Philippines and Norway, among others, have joined the initiative.

Established hospitality brands which have adopted Basics include Accor, Minor Hotels, Melia Hotels, Jin Jiang, Louvre Hotel Group, Choice Hotels and Radisson Hotel Group.

Other major travel and tourism brands joining the initiative include Intrepid, British Airways Holidays, HBX Group, WebBeds and Abercrombie & Kent.

In a speech at ITB Berlin, WTTC president and CEO Julia Simpson celebrated the achievement:

“Our goal is to have a globally recognised trademark that shows customers at a glance that a hotel is supporting the planet by saving energy, cutting plastics, protecting nature and supporting their local community.

“We launched the scheme only a year ago and the uptake has been incredible. 70 countries have signed up with more than 1,700 properties verified with a long waiting list. It will bring lasting change.”

To learn more about Basics, head to WTTC’s official website.