World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, WTTC and GSTC join forces on unified data platform

The World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (WSHA) has joined the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) in launching an enhanced version of the WTTC’s ‘Hotel Sustainability Basics programme, ‘Basics Plus’.

Hotel Sustainability Basics was launched in 2023 as a three-year programme offering smaller, independent and non-chain hotels a way to progress on sustainability.

It provided 12 sustainability indicators on energy and water efficiency, waste reduction, emissions, support for local communities and protection of nature, requiring compliance with eight by the end of the first year and 12 by the third.

The programme has been adopted by more than 8,000 hotels to date.

The WTTC announced last week that Basics is poised to move from an online system of compliance verification to a recognised certification system which meets GSTC accreditation standards.

The new ‘Basics Plus’ framework includes a sustainability data management platform called Vera-FY, designed with industry partners to serve as a central hub for participating businesses to capture, validate, benchmark and distribute sustainability data.

WHSA president and chief executive Glenn Mandziuk hailed “a new era of accountability and action”, saying: “By uniting the world’s hospitality heavyweights around a streamlined framework and a single, unified data hub, we’re building a clear pathway to net-zero.”

He noted hospitality businesses currently “face a fragmented landscape of standards, reporting requirements, sustainability programmes and decarbonisation solutions”, and said: “Instead of complexity, we’re delivering practical implementation tools, trusted data infrastructure and collective action on renewable energy.”

The WHSA and WTTC also announced a groundbreaking Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) to enable partner hotels to source renewable energy collectively.

The agreement followed completion of a feasibility study on the collective purchase of renewable energy for the hospitality sector.

The study explored how businesses could collaborate to stimulate renewable energy production and suggested this could provide improved access to renewable electricity, greater price stability and enhanced resilience of supply.

The WSHA is inviting organisations across the hospitality, travel, energy and finance sectors to help shape the next phase of development.

Mandziuk said the initiative "is not simply about reducing emissions, it’s about helping the industry secure access to renewable energy, improve long-term energy resilience, manage energy costs and accelerate progress towards climate commitments."

Christopher Imbsen, WTTC senior vice-president for advocacy and research, said: “This study shows that by joining forces, hospitality businesses can hedge their energy costs and access renewable energy opportunities with a scale and pricing power that would be out of reach individually.”