From 27 September 2026, every sustainability claim on your hotel website needs proof behind it.
Directive (EU) 2024/825 makes generic claims such as "eco-friendly", "green" or "sustainable" an unlawful commercial practice unless you can substantiate them. Penalties are set by each member state and can reach 4% of annual turnover. This checklist walks your website, OTA listings and guest comms and tells you which claims to keep, rewrite or take down.
Six sections, 28 checks
Run it with three tabs open: your website, your main OTA listing, and your pest control contract.
- Vocabulary on your website and OTA listings. Every "eco", "green", "sustainable" and "natural" tested against the directive's list of generic claims.
- Carbon-neutral and climate-neutral claims. Which offset-based claims are now banned outright, and rewrites that still hold.
- Logos, badges and certifications on display. Which stay, which come down, which need a scheme reference next to them. Why chain-internal programmes don't clear the bar on their own.
- Future commitments. What separates a legal "net-zero by 2030" pledge from a breach.
- Substantiation. The evidence trail a regulator, journalist or guest can ask for, and that your team should be able to produce inside a day.
- Beyond the website. Confirmation emails, RFP answers, room cards, signage, sales decks. One unsubstantiated line in a booking confirmation is still a breach.
The one section that catches most properties out
Pesticides. Hotels use them indoors as a matter of routine, and that use isn't tracked by GRI, Green Key, Travelife or LEED. So when a website says "pesticide-free guest rooms" or "eco-friendly room", the property often can't substantiate it: nobody has read what's actually in the pest control contract.
Under the directive, that's a claim you can't defend. The checklist shows where this sits in your audit and the two ways to close it: change the contract, or certify the rooms at room level so the evidence exists.
Written for the people who own the words
General managers, marketing and commercial leads, and sustainability or ESG leads at European hotels and hotel groups. This is operational guidance, not legal advice. For your own situation, ask counsel.
Get the 28-point checklist
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