GSAIR 2023 32
Accreditation
Agiito ’ s approach starts by establishing whether a serviced apartment operator has an ESG policy , whether sustainability accreditation has been secured , and from whom , as Steve Banks outlines .
“ It ’ s one thing for a corporate to know what they ’ ve booked , and where , but another to know why . By adding reason codes , frequency of travel and average length of stay to our data , we can make recommendations on how to reduce GHG .”
However , George Sell , Editor-in-Chief , Serviced Apartment News questions whether the industry is taking sustainability seriously and believes a big storm could be brewing .
“ The travel buyer ’ s sustainability tick list is getting longer and longer but , with a few exceptions , I don ’ t think there is much inventory out there that actually meets those requirements other than new-builds because they are energy-efficient and well insulated .
A lot of extended stay inventory is not performing on an environmental level because it ’ s not cheap to retrofit this stuff and bring it up to standard . So , unless owners of poorly performing inventory put their hands in their pockets and bring it up to standard fairly quickly then they ’ re going to fall off corporates ’ preferred accommodation programmes .”
Looking ahead
Do operators realise how important sustainability is to their customers ? External research shows that 57 % of serviced accommodation providers have a Sustainability or Environmental Policy in place . More than 60 % check their carbon impact , but only 16 % actually measure their carbon footprint . 15
And are serviced apartment customers prepared to pay more for a sustainable stay ? Recent research says a third would pay a ‘ greenium ’ of 10 %.
If so , it ’ s up to operators to deliver .
Credit : Charles Hope
15 . https :// servicedapartmentnews . com / serviced-apartment-news / special-report-sustainability-in-the-extended-stay-space /