Owners of short-term rentals (STRs) currently lack an industry-specific standard of sustainability to work toward. Vanessa de Souza Lage, founder and CEO of Barcelona-based startup Sustonica, aims to change that with a “certification for environmental sustainability” that she claims is the first sustainability certification open to all STRs, regardless of where they’re listed. The certification program launched earlier this month. De Souza Lage points to Booking.com as a leader in the space, with its own badge for sustainable properties. STR data company Transparent Intelligence found that its sustainable listings have achieved a 2 percent higher occupancy than their “unbadged competition.”
PhocusWire (01/31/23) Kathryn Walson