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Hotelzon, the leading hotel distribution technology and booking services provider, has added a new feature, Hotelzon eCO-Impact, to its industry-renowned online hotel booking tool.
In response to the increasing interest from customers in understanding the effect of their business travel on the environment, Hotelzon has partnered with Ecompter, a primary specialist in providing environmental management and carbon footprint measurement for the hotel, events and hospitality industries.
The result of their collaboration is, Hotelzon eCO-Impact, which delivers both qualitative and quantitative information on a property’s approach to providing and sustaining an environmentally-friendly operation. An information summary of relevant actions taken by the hotel, together with concrete carbon footprint calculations according to the time and duration of the booking, room type and number of guests is immediately visible to the users of Hotelzon Online, who can easily recognize participating properties when conducting a hotel search. Through the use of a pop-up CO2 calculator, customers can instantly evaluate the environmental impact of their own stay during the booking process. Furthermore, based on the in-depth CO2 the hotels are able to provide full carbon footprint reports for their clients. Hotels also get sustainability material to use on their websites.
“Like all of our products, Hotelzon eCO-Impact is a customer-driven enhancement to our booking system, and it allows environmentally conscious hotels to be recognised in the global marketplace,” says Hotelzon CEO, Jani Kaskinen. “We wanted to work with an independent and unbiased provider and Ecompter has been the perfect partner for this project.”
The eCO-Impact scheme is available to any hotel within Hotelzon’s 140,000 online inventory, and it provides guidance for improving environmental performance throughout the operation. Roll-out has now started with the first subscribing hotels already on board, and more subscriptions are being introduced regularly.
As added value for the scheme, for every subscription received, Hotelzon makes a charitable donation to Meetings Industry Meeting Needs which provides funding for both local and global community projects, thereby ticking another box in support of sustainable practice.
Ville Valorinta, the Founder of Ecompter says “The Ecompter calculation methodology has been assured by PwC, the leading global consulting company, and incorporates recognised international guidelines and tools such as the GHG Protocol thus making the figures published in the Hotelzon eCO-Impact and hotels’ own website creditable and unbiased. Producing and communicating environmental information is a key part of responsibility and therefore we are delighted to work with Hotelzon on delivering reliable and trustworthy data in this complex area, and in the communication of relevant and valuable information to their customers and suppliers.”
Kaskinen concluded “Ultimately, environmental responsibility is rapidly becoming a key deciding factor when creating a corporate hotel program and it’s great to know that eCO-Impact Hotelzon and Ecompter are contributing to both hotels’ and corporations’ commitment and decision-making process on all levels of the organisation.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
