Specialist booking agency SilverDoor has unveiled a new tool to calculate and compare carbon emissions data for the serviced apartment sector.
The Carbon Calculator uses a proprietary methodology based on building-specific water and energy consumption to determine a per night CO2 emissions estimate for a stay in a serviced apartment. The estimate also changes according to room size, such as studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments.
Speaking to BTN Europe, Alex Neale, group head of partner relationships at SilverDoor, said the tool was developed after the company identified a gap in the market.
“The serviced apartment sector at a global level has a high volume of operators and that brings with it a high level of diversity in terms of the range of accommodation types and services available. Historically that has meant accurate estimates on carbon emissions has been a challenge,” he said.
A nightly CO2 emissions score is displayed on property profiles in the SilverDoor platform, listed “side by side” following a location-based property search, and is also listed alongside prices on quotes provided by customer service agents.
The emissions score is also compared to an equivalent hotel stay based on the Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index so that “customers can make informed decisions”.
“The idea [behind the tool] is to empower customers to make a sustainable choice at the point of booking... [and] to connect the on-the-ground decision making with the higher-level ambitions of corporate customers,” Neale said.
“There are still many people that are extremely focused on price… but the portion of our buyer community who are putting value into sustainability is growing all the time and we’re seeing a heavier [sustainability] influence in RFPs and travel policy.”
The carbon calculator is free for both buyers and suppliers and is accessible globally via SilverDoor’s online technology suite.
The tool is powered by data provided by SilverDoor’s global property partner network, with a focus on water and energy consumption, building size and the percentage of renewable energy used. Neale said this data is then verified by a member of the company’s partner relations content team in line with existing policies on how data should be captured and processed.
“Partners are also mandated to update their profile information every quarter,” he said. “We would expect them to produce an updated annual report from a carbon calculation perspective each year... and in the future, the tech will have the capabilities to provide a year-on-year comparison.”
To date, some 100 properties in SilverDoor’s network of more than 2,000 serviced apartments have submitted data for the calculator. However, Neale said this number is expected to “significantly expand” over the next 12 months and “will represent a bigger portion of our booked accommodation”.
In the meantime, properties that don’t provide the necessary data will receive an equivalent hotel industry average based on the Cornell index with regionally-specific calculations.
SilverDoor’s chief information and technology officer Hanish Vithal added the tool has been “completely developed in-house” and led by feedback from both suppliers and corporate customers.
“We don’t outsource any tech and that means it’s tightly controlled. Time to market is also another advantage and we can be very flexible and agile to be able to make tweaks,” he said.
The carbon calculator will evolve as more data is collected, Vithal said. “This is the start of the journey and how we work and collaborate with the supply chain to improve the tool.”
In early December the company plans to launch an adjacent API analytics service that will provide bespoke emissions reporting for corporate customers based on their sustainable travel initiatives.