The verification scheme enables hotels and other tourist accommodation to be officially verified for meeting eight of the 12 criteria in the first year and demonstrate their commitment to working toward all 12 of the criteria by year three. Together, the criteria ensure the sector is eco resilient and adaptive to the changing needs of the planet.
WebBeds, the global marketplace providing accommodation and ground product distribution services to the travel industry, has partnered with World Travel and Tourism Council for Hotel Sustainability Basics.
As a multinational organization, WebBeds recognizes the importance of global corporate responsibility and is dedicated to reducing their environmental footprint and promoting environmentally responsible and sustainable travel.
By partnering with the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), Hotel Sustainability Basics initiative, WebBeds provides their hotel partners with access to a globally recognised sustainability verification programme which can be used to highlight a property’s environmental credentials to the travel trade and travellers. Hotels participating in the initiative will be flagged in WebBeds’ booking platforms, enabling travel trade clients to make more informed decisions, based on the sustainability credentials of a property, when recommending hotels to their customers.
Launched at ITB Berlin 2023 by the WTTC, Hotel Sustainability Basics enables tourist accommodation providers from around the world, regardless of their size, to begin their sustainability journey. It is an industry-backed scheme, bringing together a globally recognised set of 12 criteria that all hotels should implement, as a minimum, to drive responsible and sustainable travel & tourism.
Daryl Lee, WebBeds CEO said, “Partnering with a globally recognised and respected organisation such as the WTTC is a key step in our ongoing journey to become a more environmentally responsible business. We are making good progress and are committing significant internal and external resource to help us prioritise sustainability initiatives. This programme is an example of how we will also help our partners on their own sustainability journey and to be guided by best practice and globally recognised standards.”
WebBeds’ online tool resolves rate discrepancies instantly
Also, WebBeds has released an update to its online Parity Monitor tool enabling hotels to instantly resolve pricing discrepancies.
WebBeds launched the online Parity Monitor tool to hotel partners at ITB 2023 as the initial phase of a major initiative to improve the speed of identifying and resolving parity issues, with the ultimate aim of achieving zero BRG (best rate guarantee) discrepancies.
The v1.2 upgrades to the Parity Monitor tool now provide even greater control & improved efficiencies, enabling hotels to input, submit & resolve rate discrepancies instantly, the first time a discrepancy is reported.
WebBeds is focussed on harnessing the capabilities of intelligent automation and have worked with Robiquity, a trailblazer in Intelligent Automation, to develop an industry-first solution. The project team have utilised Robotic Process Automation and the Microsoft Power Platform to automatically update and synchronise data across all WebBeds platforms and internal systems so that exclusions are applied immediately to the client.
Daryl Lee, WebBeds CEO, said “The v1.2 Parity Monitor release demonstrates the progress we’re making in developing automated solutions that add value to our partners. Our stated objective for this project is to ultimately achieve zero BRG discrepancies through the WebBeds marketplace. It’s a very high bar to reach but we are demonstrating concrete progress and substance as we work towards achieving this aspiration.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
