Hostelworld – the Irish online accommodation booking platform – has welcomed a research report confirming hostels are more climate friendly than regular hotels.
The report, by leading sustainability and compliance specialist Bureau Veritas, claims hostels emit significantly less Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions compared to mainstream hotels on a per bed-night basis.
The report also claims hostels have reduced their emissions, year-on-year, while hotels have increased theirs.
Hostelworld said ensuring a sustainable future “is of paramount importance to all our stakeholders, and is reflected in our company values”.
On the back of a strong set of annual financial results – which showed a return to group profitability last year – Hostelworld said: “Hostelling clearly offers consumers a unique opportunity to travel responsibly and this affords Hostelworld, as the only OTA exclusively promoting hostels, a distinct competitive advantage. Given its leadership position in the industry, Hostelworld has a responsibility to promote the inherent sustainable features of the category and we are committed to fully supporting our hostel partners journey in recognising and embracing the importance of sustainability.”
To achieve this, Hostelworld has partnered with the Global Sustainable Travel Council (GSTC) to develop a sustainability measurement and management system unique to the hostelling category, which went live in January 2024.
This ‘Staircase to Sustainability’ framework is the first of its kind and is aligned to the GSTC’s sustainability criteria.
The framework will allow hostels to showcase their sustainability credentials and will be of invaluable assistance to our customers who are looking to minimise their carbon footprint.
“Working with our emission reduction advisors South Pole, the Group have been accredited with the ‘Funding Climate Action’ label for a third consecutive year. The label recognises the Group’s commitment to reducing and controlling its own emissions. Hostelworld had minimal scope 1 and 2 emissions of 7 tCO2e (well below the annual target set by the Group of 30 tCO2e) but is responsible for increasing scope 3 emissions due to an increase in purchased consumables relating to paid marketing costs and business travel linked to the growth in the Group’s booking volume,” Hostelworld said.
