Travelport answers demand for carbon emissions measurement in hotel industry

Leading global distribution system (GDS) provider Travelport GDS has announced an international marketing alliance with The Hotel Carbon Index Company Limited, creator of CarePar. CarePar is the industry standard system for measuring carbon emissions within the hotel and lodging industry.

Through the agreement, Travelport is blazing a trail in the hotel industry by helping to answer the demand, particularly among corporate travellers, for a means to calculate the carbon cost of hotel stays. The announcement was made in December at the Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA) Conference.

As part of the agreement, Travelport will include CarePar hotel carbon emission data in Travelport GDS products, including Travelport Carbon Tracker. The integration of CarePar hotel data into Carbon Tracker in the future will give corporations and their travellers an even more complete view of their emissions per trip. Carbon Tracker enables corporations to compare carbon dioxide analyses for travel itineraries and obtain emission data across multiple travel types (air, rail and car), using the latest developments in emissions calculation.

“This landmark agreement within the GDS industry comes at a time when hotels, corporations and travellers the world over are looking to industry leaders to get behind programs that are better for the environment,” said Peter Ducker, founder of The Hotel Carbon Index Company. “This is another bold initiative by Travelport that will lead the hotel sector into a regime of benchmarking and measuring emissions, and help hotels and their guests calculate their true carbon footprints.”

Commenting on joining forces with The Hotel Carbon Index, Travelport GDS’s senior vice president, Flo Lugli, said: “Travelport has spearheaded a number of initiatives in carbon emissions measurement and reporting for the travel industry. Our relationship with The Hotel Carbon Index is a vital next step, following our launch of Carbon Tracker earlier this year. We will continue to build on our strong track record of helping travel companies, corporations and travellers measure and reduce their carbon footprints.”