The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and the Hotel Association of Canada (HAC) have teamed up to form a joint venture that will own and operate a sustainability certification program.
The two partners have signed a Letter of Intent to own and operate the Green Key Global program in the U.S. and Canada. The announcement was made at the Lodging Conference in Phoenix.
The program and resources provided by Green Key Global leverage an organization’s sustainability efforts across brands and properties to ramp up occupancy, offer savings and lower carbon footprint while aligning with CSR activities.
Green Key Global is a North American environmental certification body for the hotel and lodging sector. Its certification criteria are recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and align with all 17 of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals. Hotels receive an eco-rating through an assessment and audit process that measures hotel performance in key areas, like energy and water conservation, land use, air quality, hazardous and solid waste management, etc.
Pending all necessary approvals, AHLA and HAC will form a joint venture company early next year, which will operate as Green Key Global, to grow the program’s success. This will also build on AHLA’s ‘Responsible Stay’ initiative launched in December 2022, which matched AHLA member companies’ pledges on four key pillars of sustainability — energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation and responsible sourcing.
“Increasingly, business, group and leisure travelers want to know they’re staying in a hotel that shares their commitment to protecting the environment, and AHLA is excited to enable and support its members’ ability to meet guest expectations by bringing Green Key Global certifications to branded and independent hotels across the U.S. and Canada,” said AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. “The HAC is a pioneer in this field, and we are excited to partner with them to empower hoteliers and guests while making hospitality more sustainable.”
HAC created the Green Key Global initiative in 1994 as a certifying body for hotels in Canada and other countries. Since then, the program has been adopted widely in Canada, owing to its ease of use and customized approach to improve the sustainability of hotel operations.
The partnership will help Green Key Global bring together the hotel industry behind a North American standard of sustainable certification, said President & CEO of HAC, Susie Grynol. “Our best-in-class program will allow hotels to exceed the expectations of their eco-conscious travelers through a third-party validation of their sustainable practices. There is much to celebrate here.”
At present, the HAC represents more than 8,200 hotels, motels and resorts, encompassing the $20.8 billion Canadian hotel industry.