Sustainable Travel

Leilani C. Latimer
Director, Sustainability Initiatives
Travelocity, Sabre Holdings

A sustainable brand “sustains your brand promise over the long term,” Leilani Latimer told participants at Sustainable Brands ’09 in Monterey, California, adding that Travelocity’s brand promise is “to connect people with the world’s greatest travel possibilities.”

Travelocity’s effort to create a sustainable brand “is a story of grassroots cause marketing” that has helped the company differentiate itself in a largely commoditized market. It began when employees across the organization asked how they could make change happen. Their answer was to seek to “make the world better, one trip at a time.”

The company’s Travel for Good initiative includes a Change Ambassador program that awards 12 grants annually—three of them to employees—“to make volunteer travel wishes come true.” Latimer said many of the applicants had never traveled outside the United States before. Most had a history of community giving, were curious about other cultures, and were financially challenged.

Latimer told the story of one of the grant recipients, a mother who took her two sons to work at an orphanage in Costa Rica for two weeks. Her goal was to expose her children to people even less fortunate than they were but, when they returned, she said all her stereotypes about other countries had fallen apart. Though her sons did not speak a word of Spanish, they were able to interact with the local youth using the “international language of laughter, love, and humility.”

“Volunteering is a huge part of the fabric of who we are,” said Latimer. Employees are allotted six hours every quarter and the company is beginning to involve customers in its volunteer activities. For example, it invited attendees at a suppliers’ conference in New Orleans to help rebuild an elementary school. Latimer said these initiatives create a link between the culture, employees, and customers.

Travelocity was the first online travel company to offer customers the ability to purchase carbon offsets; and the program has offset more than 40,000 tons of carbon to date. The company’s website also provides green travel tips to encourage customers to travel more responsibly.

Research conducted in 2008 showed 66% of travelers think their choices can make a difference to the environment But many customers are skeptical about company claims, and only 8% said it was easy to find green options. In response, Travelocity published a listing of hotels that meet the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria.

Latimer said environmental travelers often cite cost as a barrier to making a green choice, even though most suppliers have not raised their prices. “The perception that green costs more, even though it doesn’t, is something that we have to manage.” Last April, Travelocity launched a “Go Green for Less Green” program.

These programs are part of a wider culture of sustainability at Travelocity, Latimer told participants. For example, its headquarters was the second building in all of Texas to be certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program, and employees who start carpooling receive “wellness points” which they can use to get discounts on health care. She said practices differ for offices in different countries, and the company is working on trying to bring together best practices from each.

Operating in a highly commoditized space, where a customer will go to another site to save $5 on an air ticket, Travelocity uses its sustainability efforts to differentiate it from the competition. The company tries to make an emotional connection with its customers.

“Authenticity matters,” said Latimer. “I can’t repeat it enough.” If sustainability were not already embedded in the company culture, “it would have been hard to come forward with a program like this.”

In response to a participant’s question, Latimer said organizations must be prepared to constantly make a business case for cause marketing programs with the people who hold the purse strings. “Just because it was successful once, it doesn’t mean it will always be.”