Accor and Booking.com are formalising a strengthened collaboration around hotel eco-labelling, with the aim of making sustainability certifications more visible at the point of booking and simplifying the process for hotels to obtain them. The initiative, which builds in particular on Accor’s Hosting Change CSR roadmap, comes as sector data confirm a structural shift: sustainable labelling now has a direct bearing on booking decisions, particularly in the corporate segment.
Momentum driven by traveller and corporate demand
According to Booking.com’s Travel and Sustainability Report 2026, 36% of travellers favour labelled accommodation, and 41% say clearer communication would encourage them to make more sustainable choices. This transparency expected by customers finds a particular echo in business travel.
52% of travellers who took a business trip in 2025 say their company has a travel sustainability policy in place. Procurement teams, for their part, increasingly expect verifiable evidence rather than statements of intent from hotels.
Accor rolls out a structured strategy across its portfolio
Accor has set itself a target of 75% of hotels eco-labelled by 2030, up from 57% already certified at the end of 2025. The group supports its hotels through kits and templates, training sessions, help preparing for audits, and preferential terms negotiated with selected labelling partners.
To cover all its geographies, Accor combines international labels, Green Key and Green Globe, with local partnerships tailored to regional specifics: Ecotourism Australia in the Pacific, the China Green Hotel Association in Greater China, and Green Key Global in the United States and Canada.
Coline Pont, Accor’s Chief Sustainability Officer, points out that certification rests on verifiable practices and performance at each property, with tracking of key indicators — energy, water, waste — carried out together with operational teams around the world. This approach extends the logic the group has already applied to other strands of its sustainability policy, such as the development of its eco-responsible brand Greet or its involvement in HARP, the sector alliance for responsible procurement.
A collaboration with Booking.com to turn certification into visibility
On the distribution side, Booking.com is seeing a clear shift in booking behaviour. 85% of travellers say it’s important to travel sustainably, and in 2025 more than 100 million room nights were booked at labelled properties on the platform. The number of certified properties on the site rose 22% year-on-year, reaching 28,000 establishments.
To accelerate this trend, Accor is working with Booking.com and BeCause on a joint initiative to pre-fill parts of the Green Key application, Accor’s internal questionnaires and OTA sustainability questionnaires, using information already available at hotel level. The aim is to reduce the administrative burden on hotel teams and ensure more consistent visibility throughout the booking journey, regardless of platform.
Danielle D’Silva, Chief Sustainability Officer at Booking.com, says the platform is seeking to help travellers and partners make more informed choices, and that the collaboration with Accor is helping to increase the number of properties displaying eco-labelling — a criterion that is becoming increasingly decisive in booking decisions, particularly for business travel.
Business travel driving demand for labelled properties
Consistency of information across platforms takes on particular importance in the corporate segment, where purchasing decisions are increasingly governed by internal policies and evidence requirements. In a test run by Booking.com with a corporate demand partner, the share of bookings directed towards labelled properties rose from 15% to 27% once a labelling badge was displayed.
On the strength of that result, Booking.com has extended access to the badge to all of its corporate demand partners, making it easier to identify verified options and helping to establish more consistent standards across the sector.
Outlook
Sustainable certification operates on a long-term cycle: most programmes require renewal every one to two years, which means hotels must maintain an ongoing effort of verification and improvement. For both Accor and Booking.com, the challenge now lies as much in rolling out certifications as in making them effectively visible at the point of booking, as the expectations of leisure and business travellers continue to converge.
🔗 Read on LTH: Accor launches “Hosting Change”, its 2026-2030 CSR roadmap
At a glance by The Hospitality Tribune
Accor targets 75% of its hotels eco-labeled by 2030, up from 57% at the end of 2025
Global label partners include Green Key, Green Globe, Ecotourism Australia, China Green Hotel Association and Green Key Global
Booking.com recorded over 100 million room nights booked in sustainability-labeled properties in 2025
Labeled properties on Booking.com grew 22% year-on-year, reaching 28,000 accommodations
A corporate demand partner test showed labeled bookings rising from 15% to 27% once a sustainability badge was displayed
Accor, Booking.com and BeCause are pre-filling Green Key and OTA sustainability questionnaires to reduce hotels’ administrative load
