Sustainability in hotels

Hotels can now identify their sustainability efforts on their hotel detail page alongside amenities and health and safety practices. This information only appears for hotels that opt in to self-reporting and have sustainability practices to report.

Learn how to find each hotel’s sustainability practices, and how to determine whether they've been certified by an independent organization for following a rigorous set of standards.

Find eco-certified hotels

Hotels with an “eco-certified” label have been certified by an accredited independent organization for meeting certain standards. You’ll find an “eco-certified” label near their name, and you can find out more about their sustainability practices on their detail page.

On google.com/travel, search for hotels.
Select a hotel with an “eco-certified” label.
On the hotel's detail page, select the About tab.
Scroll down to the “Sustainability” section.

Find hotels with sustainability practices

Not all hotels with sustainability practices are eco-certified. To understand how a hotel is managing their environmental impact, follow these steps:

On google.com/travel, search for hotels.
Select a hotel you’re interested in.
On the hotel's detail page, select the About tab.
Scroll down to see if there’s a “Sustainability” section. If this section isn’t present, visit the hotel’s website to see if they follow sustainability practices they haven’t yet reported to Google.

Where Google gets this info

Sustainability information is provided by the hotel.
Google provides hotel owners with a list of approved certification agencies and curated sustainability practices based on industry best practices.
Hotel owners select what is applicable to their property. This self-reported information displays on the hotel's About page. Google does not independently verify their claims.

Learn about eco certifications

Eco certifications are granted to hotels who meet sustainability criteria designated by a third party certification agency. When a hotel is labeled “eco-certified” on Google, it means they have reported earning a certification from an agency that Google has identified as meeting the following standards:

1. The agency must use globally recognized and reputed criteria to evaluate the hotel.

2. The evaluation must focus on environmental impact from at least these 4 categories:

Energy efficiency
Water conservation
Waste reduction
Sustainable sourcing

3. The agency must conduct an on-site audit to verify the hotel's sustainability practices, or use an independent third party to do so.

Google does not verify the certification status of each hotel.

Currently, the following eco certifications meet our standards. Each has comprehensive and rigorous sustainability criteria that aims to reduce a hotel’s carbon footprint.

List of eco certifications

If you think a certification agency is missing from the list, please fill out this form.

Sustainability terms defined

Because sustainability terms can have a number of meanings, we’re sharing more context for a few sustainability practices you’ll find on our hotel detail pages. The following terms and definitions are used by Google to align sustainability practices across our hotels.

Energy from carbon-free sources

Property sources carbon-free electricity through at least one of the following ways:

On-site clean energy generation
Power purchase agreement(s) with clean energy generators
Green power provided by an electricity supplier
Purchases of Energy Attribute Certificates, such as Renewable Energy Certificates or Guarantees of Origin

Locally sourced food and beverages

Property sources locally in order to lower the environmental footprint from reduced transportation and to stimulate the local economy. Products produced less than 100 km from the establishment are normally considered locally produced.

Organic cage-free eggs

The property sources 100% certified organic and cage-free eggs, which includes shell, liquid, and egg products. Cage-free means hens are able to walk, spread their wings, and lay their eggs in nests.

Eco-friendly toiletries

Soap, shampoo, lotion, and other toiletries provided for guests have a nationally or internationally recognized sustainability certification, such as USDA Organic, EU Organic, or cruelty-free.

Responsibly sourced seafood

The property doesn’t source seafood from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch “avoid” list and must sustainably source seafood listed as “good alternative,” “eco-certified,” and “best choice.” The property has a policy that outlines a commitment to source Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) or Aquaculture Stewardship Council (ASC) Chain of Custody certified seafood.