In 2024 we launched the Staircase to Sustainability, a sustainability framework built to help to help our hostel partners assess, compare and communicate their progress towards more sustainable operations. Developed in partnership with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and Bureau Veritas, the framework is tailored specifically for the unique characteristics of the hostelling category. 

Divided into four levels and aligning directly with the established sustainable tourism criteria of the GSTC, the Staircase to Sustainability is designed to not only help hostels identify any gaps in their current sustainability practices, but also work as a guide on how to move up the ‘staircase’ to secure a formal certification.

Some of our hostel partners are making sustainability a priority through their own projects, with 56% already working on sustainability initiatives and a further 37% confirming that they are interested in getting involved in sustainability programmes1. We continue to promote hostels that champion sustainability and demonstrate to their hostel peers how to implement solid environmental processes. In 2023 we produced a series of interviews with hostels, named Hostelworld’s Sustainability Stories, which shined a spotlight on some of our hostel partners’ incredible ESG initiatives, including inclusivity and volunteering, assisting local communities and business practices.

GSTC

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is an independent body that establishes and manages global standards for sustainable travel and tourism.

We are encouraging hostel adoption of the framework and launched a website for the Staircase to Sustainability, where hostels can learn about steps they can take to receive a badge and how to work their way up the levels. We plan to roll out formal training to communicate this to hostels further and work with hostels on future iterations.

We run a monthly sustainability newsletter to our hostel partners to showcase, enhance engagement and promote sustainable hostel initiatives. Our efforts have been focused on ensuring simplicity for hostels by also incorporating the GTPI principles in the sustainability criteria, marrying this initiative with our broader sustainability goals.

Customers can search and filter to find hostels with sustainability badges and learn about how that hostel met that level, helping them make informed choices.

We are not setting a target for the Group relating to the volume of sustainability badges awarded on our website. Our intention is to instead facilitate the distribution of sustainability badges in a responsible way. We are reliant on hostel co-operation and setting a target based on the volume of sustainability badges may negatively impact the credibility of the badge.

IT’S OFFICIAL. HOSTELS PRODUCE 82% LESS CARBON EMISSIONS THAN HOTELS

In 2022 we partnered with sustainability and compliance specialist, Bureau Veritas, to release a first-of-its-kind report that compared the carbon footprint of hostels in Europe vs their hotel counterparts. The research, ‘Understanding the Carbon Impact of Hostels vs Hotels’ found that hostels were 75% less carbon intense (tCO₂e) than hotels.

In 2023, Bureau Veritas released a second edition of the study which validated again that hostels remain the more sustainable accommodation choice compared with hotels. Bureau Veritas compared the average emissions of 30,697 hostel beds, across Europe, against a sample of representative European hotel chains. The report identified that hostels produce 82% less carbon than hotels.

The findings come as very welcome news for a travel niche full of increasingly environmentally conscious customers. Not only are hostels a great way to meet other people and share unique experiences, but we also know that they continue to represent a more sustainable accommodation choice in terms of greenhouse gas emissions.

The study revealed that hostel carbon emissions have reduced year-on-year from 0.30 tCO₂e to 0.25 tCO₂e. In contrast, hotel carbon emissions have increased within the last year from 1.18 tCO₂e to a range of 1.37 tCO₂e to 1.43 tCO₂e.

TCO₂e measures in metric tons the carbon dioxide equivalent of direct and indirect emissions of the hostels and hotels studied. In the recent report, Bureau Veritas examined data from 1st January to 31st December 2022.

For more information on the scopes of data analysed, the measurement calculations, and methodology, read the full report here.

Global Tourism Plastics Initiative (GTPI)

One of our core company values is to ‘Build a Better World’ and to inspire our people to improve our world in all they do. One step we’ve taken towards creating a better world is uniting with our hostel partners to protect our natural environment.

Our research has shown the growing demand by consumers for more sustainable travel options, as nine in ten (92%) of hostel travellers now consider themselves to be 'green travellers'. However, the research also revealed the majority (63%) of travellers think travel companies should be doing more to help customers travel more sustainably.

In 2020 we became a signatory of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative (GTPI), led by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Tourism Organization (WTO), in collaboration with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation. Our role is to unite the hostel industry to address the root causes of plastic pollution, and we are encouraging our hostel partners to sign up to GTPI with a commitment to reducing their single-use plastic consumption. 

Hostelworld Group’s commitments to the GTPI are as follows:

• Contacting our global hostel partners by September 2020 to encourage them to sign up to the initiative. The objective is to encourage 500 hostels to commit within the framework of the GTPI by 2025, and to make their participation visible on the Hostelworld website.
• Acting as a facilitator to advise and guide hostels to better manage plastics in their operations. Hostelworld will update those who sign up to the initiative on the latest best-practice guidance. 
• Communicating success to our corporate partners (investors) and consumer audience (travellers), when meaningful updates are available and when milestones are reached. These updates will be published on our corporate website, shared on our database and blog and social channels.
• Reporting progress of the implementation of our commitments to the GTPI publicly within our Annual Report each March, as well as at any appropriate public forum including conferences and investor presentations.

[1] Based on Hostelworld internal market research with hostels entitled “Hostel Sustainable Survey” in March 2022 which had 400 global hostel respondents