Hotels can now identify their sustainability efforts on their hotel detail page alongside amenities and health and safety practices. This information only appears for hotels that opt in to self-reporting and have sustainability practices to report.
Learn how to find each hotel’s sustainability practices, and how to determine whether they've been certified by an independent organization for following a rigorous set of standards.
Find eco-certified hotels
Hotels with an “eco-certified” label have been certified by an accredited independent organization for meeting certain standards. You’ll find an “eco-certified” label near their name, and you can find out more about their sustainability practices on their detail page.
- On google.com/travel, search for hotels.
- Select a hotel with an “eco-certified” label.
- On the hotel's detail page, select the About tab.
- Scroll down to the “Sustainability” section.
Find hotels with sustainability practices
Not all hotels with sustainability practices are eco-certified. To understand how a hotel is managing their environmental impact, follow these steps:
- On google.com/travel, search for hotels.
- Select a hotel you’re interested in.
- On the hotel's detail page, select the About tab.
- Scroll down to see if there’s a “Sustainability” section. If this section isn’t present, visit the hotel’s website to see if they follow sustainability practices they haven’t yet reported to Google.
Where Google gets this info
- Sustainability information is provided by the hotel and eco-certifications are provided through Travalyst.
- Google provides hotel owners with a list of tailored sustainability practices based on industry best practices.
- Hotel owners select what is applicable to their property. This self-reported information displays on the hotel's About page. Google does not independently verify their claims.
- For eco-certifications, Google, as part of the Travalyst coalition, receives a list of approved third party eco-certifications and approved hotels. Hotel owners can't self-certify and Google doesn't independently verify the claims of third party certification bodies.
Learn about eco certifications
Important: Google doesn't verify the certification status of each hotel.
Eco certifications are granted to hotels who meet sustainability criteria designated by a third party certification agency. Eco-certifications also serve as a signal to help consumers and the broader community know that your hotel is actively working to make a positive environmental impact in the world. Google is a member of the Travalyst coalition and when a hotel is labeled “eco-certified” on Google, it means they have reported earning a certification from an agency that Travalyst has identified as meeting the following standards:
- The agency must use globally recognized and reputed criteria to evaluate the hotel.
- The evaluation must focus on environmental impact from at least these 4 categories:
- Energy efficiency
- Water conservation
- Waste reduction
- Sustainable sourcing
- The agency must conduct an on-site audit to verify the hotel's sustainability practices, or use an independent third party to do so.
Please visit Travalyst.orgfor a full list of eco certifications. Each has comprehensive and rigorous sustainability criteria that aims to reduce a hotel's carbon footprint. This list is updated and reviewed periodically.
Tip: If your eco-certification agency isn't listed, have them complete the form on Travalyst.org.
Sustainability terms defined
Because sustainability terms can have a number of meanings, we’re sharing more context for a few sustainability practices you’ll find on our hotel detail pages. The following terms and definitions are used by Google to align sustainability practices across our hotels.
Energy from carbon-free sources
Property sources carbon-free electricity through at least one of the following ways:
- On-site clean energy generation
- Power purchase agreement(s) with clean energy generators
- Green power provided by an electricity supplier
- Purchases of Energy Attribute Certificates, such as Renewable Energy Certificates or Guarantees of Origin