The Hotel Association of Canada will bring its Green Key Global hospitality sustainability certification program to the United States through a planned joint venture with the American Hotel & Lodging Association, the associations announced Tuesday at the Lodging Conference in Phoenix.
AHLA and HAC have signed a letter of intent to form a joint venture to to co-own and operate Green Key Global. Pending “all necessary approvals,” the associations plan to launch the joint venture in early 2024, they said.
Financial terms of the move were not disclosed.
HAC established the Green Key Global initiative in 1994. It offers ratings of participating properties’ sustainability practices, including “energy and water conservation, land use, hazardous and solid waste management and air quality,” among others, according to HAC.
Green Key Global will “build upon” AHLA’s Responsible Stay initiative, which launched last year. Responsible Stay requires participating AHLA members to concentrate conservation efforts on four pillars, including energy efficiency, waste reduction, water conservation and responsible sourcing.
The collaboration offers a more succinct certification program for participating properties in the North American hotel market.
“Through this partnership, Green Key Global will unite the hotel industry behind a North American standard of sustainable certification,” HAC president and CEO Susie Grynol said in a statement. The program’s certification abilities are recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and align “with all 17 of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals,” the companies said.
“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,” AHLA president and CEO Chip Rogers said in a statement.
