Booking.com Ends 'Possibly Misleading' Sustainability Program
Photo Credit: Many travelers want to choose hotels practicing sustainability. Source: raw pixel/freepik https://www.freepik.com/free-photo/hands-holding-out-small-globe_2861182.htm#query=sustainable%20travel&position=5&from_view=search&track=ais Freepik / rawpixel
Skift Take
Booking.com's Travel Sustainable program ran into a regulatory buzzsaw.
Booking.com initiated a program in 2021 to highlight properties that were standouts in their sustainability practices – on Monday, it began removing its badges from listings in response to regulators in the Netherlands.
Booking's program was called "Travel Sustainable" and designated properties with scores between 1 and 3+ as well as green leaves badges. On March 25, the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets said the program "was a possibly misleading sustainability claim." Booking.com is headquartered in Amsterdam.
"It implies that traveling and staying at one of the program-affiliated accommodations are sustainable, even though this is incorrect," the regulator found. "The use of the green leaf reinforces this implication."
The co
