Travelodge launches new sustainability plan ‘Better Future’

Travelodge, which operates almost 600 hotels across the UK, Ireland and Spain, has officially launched its new sustainability plan ‘Better Future'. The plan outlines the group’s ideas that will aim to help create a sustainable business with “long term profitable growth” and to become a net-zero hotel operator. ‘Better Future’ will focus on becoming net zero, reducing its energy consumption through energy efficiency projects and migrate its residual supply to green sources or find other ways to offset any remainder. The groups new builds and refurbishment programme will build its new hotels and refurbish its existing hotels with sustainability as a key consideration. Travelodge appointed Simply Sustainable, a global management consulting specialist in ESG and sustainable business. During the last 12 months, the group also consulted a “wide range of stakeholders, which included landlords, investors, local authorities, developers, key suppliers and charity partners” as well as “over 40,000 of its business and leisure customers and their team of over 10,000 colleagues” for vital feedback on the most important sustainability priorities. Jo Boydell, Travelodge CEO, said: “As one of the UK’s largest hotel brands, we have always been committed to doing business responsibly. However, we know that there is more we need to do and we believe that sustainability has a critically important role to play in shaping the future of Travelodge. “Today, we are proud to launch our new sustainability plan to create a ‘Better Future’ for our customers, colleagues and the planet. The plan has been designed to mark a step-change in our sustainability agenda and is fully integrated with our wider business strategy and our purpose - to provide affordable travel for everyone.” She added: “We have a long road ahead of us to complete our route to becoming a net-zero hotel operator and continue our journey to make sustainable, affordable travel for everyone a reality.” Nicola Stops, Simply Sustainable CEO, added: “We are delighted to help accelerate Travelodge’s journey to become a more sustainable business. The group has always been committed to doing business responsibly and has launched a number of sustainable initiatives over the years, but now the ‘Better Future’ plan officially formalises the company’s approach with clear targets, KPIs and updates. “Furthermore, the group’s clear vision of being inclusive, caring and conscious gives its stakeholder’s confidence they’re dealing with a business that takes care of its people, the communities it operates in and the planet and is constantly striving to become more sustainable.”