There is a hidden world behind every hotel stay that most guests never really think about, and why would they. You check in, order a drink, attend a meeting, sleep in a comfortable bed and check out again, probably without giving much thought to the kitchens, cleaning operations, heating systems, energy contracts and daily routines shaping the environmental footprint of your stay.
For years, hotel sustainability was something guests mostly encountered at surface level, usually through a towel reuse card, a recycling bin or a line on the website about cutting back on plastic, but Radisson Hotel Group’s approach to its Verified Net Zero hotels suggests the next chapter is going to be much more detailed, measurable and harder to fake.
Case Study: Radisson’s Working Net Zero Model
What makes this story interesting is that Radisson is trying to turn a long-term net zero ambition into a working hotel model now, in real buildings, with real guests, real meeting rooms and real operational pressures.
Its Verified Net Zero Hotels initiative shows what happens when carbon reduction is built into the everyday running of a hotel, rather than treated as something that sits in a sustainability report. That means looking across the guest experience, back-of-house operation and supply chain, from the energy that powers the building to the food on the plate and the suppliers chosen behind the scenes.
“Radisson Hotel Manchester City Centre is a useful example because the changes are not just cosmetic,”
– Melanie Harrison, Radisson’s Key Account Manager UK&I – Entertainment & Sports
Behind-The-Scenes: Radisson Hotel Manchester City Centre
The hotel has moved to full electrification, uses 100% renewable electricity, has installed heat pumps instead of gas boilers and runs a fully electric kitchen, which means sustainability is not just something guests are told about, but something engineered into the way the building operates. There are plenty of smaller details too:
- Refillable amenities and glass water bottles
- Non-plastic key card and digital guest tools.
- Strict waste reduction programmes and food waste initiatives
- Lower carbon dining menus
Taken together, these changes point to something much bigger in that hotel sustainability is not about one big gesture, but dozens of connected decisions that change the carbon impact of a stay, meeting, conference or production base.
Radisson’s Manchester hotel shows that net zero hospitality cannot be achieved through one gesture or a well-meaning promise. It has to be built into the way a hotel works, from the systems behind the scenes to the experience guests see on the day.
The Future: What this means for Corporate & Media Travel
“This is the bit that matters for our business, sport and media travel clients, because corporate travel buyers and location teams are no longer just asking whether a hotel looks green or has a sustainability page on its website. They need to know what has actually been reduced, what is being measured, what data is available and whether the property can provide credible evidence before the booking is confirmed.”
– Adam Hall, ESG Director at Access Bookings
For Access Bookings, this is not a new conversation, but one that has been building for years and one of the main ways our team has been doing its bit for the world is by running our own environmental awareness grading programme within the accommodation supply chain, giving clients a clearer way to identify properties that are actively trying to make a difference.
Sustainability: Our push from 2017
In 2017, Access Bookings developed a bespoke environmental awareness grading programme to help clients spot accommodation providers taking meaningful steps on sustainability, while also supporting ESG goals, carbon reduction ambitions and, for production clients, the growing need to understand supplier impact as part of wider sustainability requirements.
The grading process is deliberately straightforward and depending on the number of criteria a property meets, it can achieve a bronze, silver or gold grade, and when a property is enrolled in the programme, its grading badge is displayed across Access Bookings’ online platforms and on booking confirmations, so clients can see useful sustainability information at the point they are making decisions.
“Sustainability cannot sit at the end of the booking process like a footnote or a retrospective report, travel managers and production teams need usable information before decisions are made, when they are comparing options, locations, budgets and what will best support their people.”
– Adam Hall, ESG Director at Access Bookings
That is why Access Bookings is embedding hotel CO2 outputs across both online and offline systems, allowing clients to see real-time outputs rather than relying only on post-event reporting, so they can understand the likely impact of accommodation choices earlier in the planning process and make decisions with more confidence. As a BAFTA Albert Listed Supplier, we understand that sustainability for productions is not just about what happens on set, it’s also about the hotels booked for cast and crew, the energy those hotels use, the waste they generate, the food they serve and the information production teams can access when making responsible choices quickly.
Radisson’s approach reflects an important shift in hospitality that mirrors this, that sustainability has to work without making the guest experience feel smaller, colder or more complicated, because business travellers, production teams and event delegates still expect reliable service, efficient meetings, appealing food, good sleep and a stay that does not feel like a compromise.
What does this mean for you?
The confidential workings of hotels are becoming less hidden, and travel buyers, event planners, production managers and guests are having to ask sharper questions, such as what powers the hotel, how is food sourced, what happens to waste, how are emissions measured, what has actually been reduced and can the data be seen before the booking is made?
For TV and film production teams, this is especially relevant because productions are increasingly expected to understand and evidence the sustainability credentials of the suppliers they use, as our sustainability director discussed recently.
For Access Bookings, the next step is to ensure that information is even easier to find and easier to use, so travel buyers, event organisers and production teams can see which properties are taking meaningful action before they book.
For anyone arriving in Manchester for work, an event or a production, the future of hotel sustainability is no longer somewhere on the horizon, it is here and already checking in.
Need last-minute accommodation that meets your standards?
At Access Bookings, we have over 30 years of dedicated experience managing your accommodation requirements for the TV, film, and media industry. Let us handle the details so your crew can focus on the shoot.
Contact us now on 📞 +44(0)1543 272 575 or 📧 contactus@accessbookings.com