Being skeptical: The big online players step up to green travel, sort of

Travelocity and Expedia, dominant forces in the online travel space, are reportedly each releasing their own versions of “green travel” booking tools. The question is, how do they measure up to conscious-travelers’ demands?

With “green travel” becoming more and more popular, independent online booking tools like rezhub.com and wholetravel.com are quickly making names for themselves as a mainstay for the eco-conscious globetrotter. Now, the “big boys” are getting into the game as well, with their own versions of green criteria-measurement backed by their robust booking tools and services. Yet, upon visiting their sites to check out what all the hoopla is about, one is left wondering whether or not their hearts are in it at all, or if it is just a measure of financial saturation – trying to spread their reach throughout every profitable vertical in order to keep the little guys at bay.

Expedia.com, arguably the net’s most popular travel search and booking engine, says it creates “sustainable travel initiatives that address environmental and social concerns” while encouraging travelers to go green. “You can make a big difference in the places you visit with just a few small steps. Carbon offsetting and green hotels are just the beginning.” according to the site.

Sounds great, right? Just what we need? Well, true, but the challenge remains how to actually find these “sustainable” initiatives from within Expedia’s vast and exhaustive inventory of contracted travel suppliers.

Visit Expedia.com, and book a “sustainable” trip. Go ahead, try it.

What’s that? You can’t find how? There are no buttons, links, banners, sections or anything else remotely resembling a sign or symbol pertaining to booking a green hotel or eco-friendly car rental? How funny.

The truth is that on Expedia’s home page, a visitor has to click 3 or 4 times on the Discover Expedia Exclusives section (bottom right, below the fold, hidden from the easy-to-use-quick-to-make-money “Build a Trip”, “Travel Deals” and “Perfect Trip” sections) in order to finally find the link to the “green travel” portion of the site. So exactly how is it that the company is encouraging travelers to “go green”, without allowing the visitor to quickly and easily find these resources as easily as, say, Super Bowl XLIII Hotel Deals (“Don’t miss out! Hotels are going fast! Book now!”)?

While I agree that traveling “green” is everyone’s responsibility, especially that of the traveler, other sites like rezhub.com and wholetravel.com have built and continue to build upon self-made criteria, measuring a travel supplier’s efforts against the industry itself, in order to offer travelers an upfront choice on how to travel responsibly. It seems Expedia is, so far, less interested in doing the legwork and would rather pass the responsiblilty off solely to the traveler. If a traveler finds a green hotel or a hybrid car? Great. If not? Great.

Now let’s visit the aforementioned Travelocity.com, another giant in online travel. Word is that they have just launched an all new “green directory” of hotels on its website. Awesome!

So clicking over to their homepage…let’s see…Top Travel Deals, Las Vegas Deals, Mexico Deals - no that’s not it, let’s keep looking….Caribbean Deals, Hawaii, Florida, California - no not yet – Skiing, All-Inclusive, Gay….

Apparently Travelocity’s new, wonderful green directory is a secret. Unless you are part of some super-secret club and possess the actual link to the page, you aren’t allowed to “go green” on your next trip.

Once at the page, a visitor is treated to featured properties throughout the world, of which “…have been endorsed by a leading green hotel certification provider, or are making significant strides in at least three of the four areas the U.N. Foundation’s Partnership for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria recommends as the most critical aspects of sustainable tourism: maximizing tourism’s social and economic benefits to local communities, reducing negative impacts on cultural heritage, reducing harm to local environments and planning for sustainability.”

Now to their defense, it is true that the criteria for sustainability in all travel aspects is hardly established and it will be some time before a single, true standard is in place for the industry. It all sounds so promising, but again it is unfortunate that the “big boys’” efforts comes across as half-hearted attempts to reel in customers with the promise of something that is far from complete.