Companies using American Express Global Business Travel's Neo online
booking and expense tool will now find it easier to create dedicated green hotel
programmes after the launch of new functionality.
The new feature will allow buyers to flag individual properties or chains that meet certain
environmental standards using a green badge listed in search results. These standards could be one of the many industry eco-labelling
schemes or the bespoke requirements of the company itself.
Neo’s Anne McElroy-Arnaud
added: “The badge is designed to allow
travel managers to pick the standards that align with their corporate goals and
designate the hotels that match. The green hotel badge can be configured to
appear next to the hotels that that carry the certification that is the most
appropriate for a company’s programme.”
Vincent Bourbonnais, Neo’s head of travel product, said: “We know
sustainable travel remains a priority for travellers and travel managers. When travellers see a trip’s carbon footprint at the point of booking, it
enables them to make better-informed decisions. Now travel managers can provide
sustainability guidance on hotels as well as transport in Neo, which helps make
trips more sustainable and aligned with environmental goals.”
Neo already has the
ability to filter modes of transport by carbon emissions and includes figures
from organisations such as the UK’s Defra and France’s Ademe.
The company said it would
also add electric and hybrid vehicles in the search display, making it possible
for travellers to easily recognise more sustainable options.