Summary
Details
- Global
The HRS Green Stay Initiative is intended for hotels seeking to measure and communicate their environmental performance and for companies seeking standardized sustainability data for corporate hotel procurement, booking and travel-emissions reporting. Hotel participation is voluntary, although individual corporate customers may make Green Stay participation or sustainability performance part of their own supplier-selection requirements.
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Background
HRS launched the Green Stay Initiative in March 2021 in response to demand from corporate customers for more consistent environmental information from hotels. A central problem was that hotels reported sustainability performance using different methodologies and metrics, making property-level comparisons difficult for companies managing large international travel programmes.
Green Stay addresses this by collecting standardized information at the individual-property level and integrating it into hotel procurement and booking processes. The methodology draws on established global standards like the Greenhouse Gas Protocol, ISO 14067 for product carbon footprints and the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI). This allows corporate buyers to compare the environmental footprint of accommodation options rather than relying solely on hotel sustainability claims or certifications.
HRS describes Green Stay as a data and evaluation framework rather than an ecolabel or hotel sustainability certification. Hotels can display other environmental certifications through the system, but their Green Stay performance is determined by the programme's own data-driven assessment.
How Green Stay Works
Hotels participate through the Green Stay Audit Platform, where they provide quantitative operational data and information about their sustainability practices. HRS then standardizes the information and calculates comparable property-level environmental metrics. Participation in the platform is currently free for hotels. The assessment covers:
Carbon: Green Stay calculates a product carbon footprint for a hotel stay covering Scope 1, Scope 2 and specified Scope 3 emissions, expressed per room night.
Water: Water consumption is calculated and presented at room-night level.
Waste: Hotels report solid waste generation, which is standardized as kilograms per room night.
Sustainability practices: The assessment can include up to 80 qualitative criteria covering areas such as energy management, food and waste policies, supply-chain engagement and social responsibility.
Hotels are benchmarked against comparable properties in their region and assigned efficiency classes from A to D. Hotels performing within the top 50% of their regional benchmark—classes A or B—can display the Green Stay leaf on HRS booking channels.
Green Stay Levels and Verification
Green Stay has historically used Basic, Advanced and Professional participation levels, reflecting the amount and depth of sustainability information supplied by a property. Basic was designed around qualitative self-assessment, Advanced added quantitative carbon, water and waste footprints, while Professional added independent verification of the information submitted.
Current Status
Green Stay has expanded considerably since its 2021 launch. HRS reported in 2025 that hotels across more than 180 countries and over 600 hotel chains were participating. HRS also says the framework is used by hundreds of corporate customers and that its sustainability data increasingly feeds directly into corporate hotel RFPs and booking decisions.
In April 2025, HRS introduced a new Green Stay Audit Platform, available free of charge to hotels. It allows properties to enter sustainability information once and reuse it in future HRS procurement exercises. The platform also includes the AI-powered Green Stay Assistant, which guides hotels through data requirements and the assessment process, particularly targeting properties without dedicated sustainability expertise.
For hotels, Green Stay can consequently serve both as an environmental measurement framework and as a way of communicating sustainability performance to corporate buyers. For companies managing business travel, its main value lies in providing standardized property-level data that can be used when comparing hotels, procuring accommodation and accounting for the environmental impact of hotel stays.
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