TripAdvisor speaks out about DearTripAdvisor sustainability campaign

TripAdvisor speaks out about DearTripAdvisor sustainability campaignIceNews recently caught up with TripAdvisor’s Marketing Manager Jenny Rushmore after a recent article about the new sustainability campaign, DearTripAdvisor, was published here.

It was brought to our attention that TripAdvisor currently has its own sustainably initiative of its own, titled GreenLeaders. Here’s what Jenny had to say:

The TripAdvisor GreenLeaders program is an initiative launched in 2013 to make it easy for TripAdvisor’s community of 315 million travelers to book a greener trip. Hotels and B&Bs participating in GreenLeaders are ranked for their environmental initiatives from GreenPartner all the way through to Platinum, based on the extent of their environmental practices, and are highlighted on TripAdvisor with a GreenLeaders badge. Since the program launched, it’s become the largest green hotel program of its type in the world.

Currently, TripAdvisor has nearly 8,000 accommodations participating across North America and Europe, and it continues to grow as the program expands around the world.

Regarding the differences between levels, Platinum, Gold, Silver, and Bronze, Jenny explains:

All properties have to complete a comprehensive survey, which covers areas including energy, water, waste, purchasing, site and innovation, and education. There are seven minimum requirements, and if a hotel meets those, they can qualify as a GreenPartner. Then in addition to these minimum requirements, a hotel must score 30% to reach Bronze, 40% to reach Silver, 50% for Gold, and 60% for Platinum – and less than 5% of all hotels qualify at the Platinum level.

Within the article published on IceNews last week, it stated that the online campaign, DearTripAdvisor, is encouraging TripAdvisor to include a sustainability rating, giving users the opportunity to rate a hotel on its sustainability. How does the GreenLeaders program differentiate itself, we asked?

TripAdvisor GreenLeaders is the largest environmental rating program of its kind in the world. The program highlights hotels and B&Bs with green initiatives to TripAdvisor’s 315 million monthly users. It helps hotels spread the word about their sustainability programs for free and we have had a very positive reaction from the industry. In addition, GreenLeaders helps travelers make greener travel decisions, by clearly labeling GreenLeader properties and providing a “green filter” that travelers can use to select just GreenLeader properties. When a traveler comes to write their TripAdvisor review, we ask them questions about the green initiatives of the hotel, which are then displayed on the hotel’s review page and their candid feedback helps advise other travelers on the site.

More about the GreenLeaders program can be found here.