Sustainable stays in Britain

Seven UK hotels earned B Corp status between 2021 and 2024. Emma Henderson on what this status means for an energy-intensive industry and if it makes for a better visit

-  Emma Henderson

What do you look for in a hotel stay? Price and location probably come top, followed by the promise of a comfy bed and a plush shower - or, even better, a roll-top bath - followed by a hearty two-course breakfast. How about whether they're composting food waste or if staff get paid volunteering days?

These are some of the adjustments hotels are making amid the climate crisis, as conscious travellers are looking beyond electric cars or flight-free travel. With 84 per cent saying sustainable travel is important, it seems that travellers are increasingly looking for hotels that actually do better, rather than those that only claim to. For a handful of hotels in the UK, their efforts have earned them B Corp status, an accreditation and movement created by B Lab, a global non-profit.

Established in the US in 2006 by Andrew Kassoy, Jay Coen Gilbert and Bart Houlahan, the UK arm is celebrating its 10th birthday this year. It’s been on an upward trajectory in recent years: across 92 countries, there are more than 9,000 B Corps with almost 2,400 of them in the UK, covering everything from fashion to food.

Its ethos aims to “put people and planet alongside profit”, says James Ghaffari, director of growth and product at B Corp. To achieve certification, businesses need to “meet high standards of social and environmental performance in the way they operate their business today”, he says. They are also required “to make a governance change to their business to say that beyond just being a business that’s focused on driving shareholder value, they will run their business based on a consideration of all of their stakeholders”, adds Ghaffari.