BeCause: “When Sustainability Drives Revenue”

At the GDS Forum 2024 in Bruges, HQ witnessed a new partnership between GDS Movement and a data tech company to help CVBs, DMOs and suppliers gain insights into sustainable accommodation and offers in their regions. BeCause is a Danish start-up hailing from Copenhagen with the mission of making sustainable choices flow more easily through measurable data in the tourism and travel industries. This sectoral realisation led them to develop a set of solutions that no other technology provider currently offers, including a Certification Co-pilot, a database of certified suppliers, and RFP automation tools. The ultimate goal is to automate the administrative workload linked to sustainability so that companies can focus their efforts where it really matters: real, impactful improvement.

HQ asked the COO, Jahanzeeb Ahmed (on the right), how their services can be turned into concrete changes for their clients.

What kind of game-changing approach can BeCause offer destinations to trigger datadriven sustainability actions?

Data is king here. Our job is to support destinations with the necessary data that shows where the sustainability performance of their local providers currently stands. From there, BeCause offers the tools to seamlessly assist those providers in progressing along their sustainability journey. For example, today it still requires a significant amount of manual work for a destination to find out which of their hotels are sustainability-certified. We eliminate that friction − destinations can access that data with just one click. From there, they can nudge uncertified providers to begin the certification process through our Certification Co-Pilot and track their progress throughout the journey. This creates a centralised, actionable view that drives real progress.
 

How can a meeting planner balance sustainability goals with financial objectives within your platform?

We bring several critical capabilities to the table to help planners balance sustainability with financial responsibility. BeCause offers a unified platform for collecting and managing sustainability data, which greatly reduces administrative overhead and the associated costs. Secondly, our platform includes robust tools that automate ESG reporting, minimising the manual effort typically required and reducing the risk of human error. Finally, users will soon be able to benchmark their sustainability performance against industry standards and learn from a database of initiatives implemented by other organisations. This enables planners to identify cost-effective sustainability improvements based on real-world data.
 

"Today, many event planners struggle to find verified sustainability data for the providers they want to work with. The data is scattered, fragmented, and often not accessible."
 

If I am a hotel manager looking for the right certification, how can I use the platform to find the perfect match and streamline my sustainability journey?

This is exactly the kind of challenge our Certification Co-Pilot is designed to address. BeCause provides a guided process that helps hotels identify the most relevant sustainability certifications based on their existing operational practices. The platform maps a hotel’s operational data to various certification frameworks to ensure alignment with the standards of interest. Once the journey begins, hotel managers can also track their certification progress in real-time, monitor milestones, and assess their current compliance status, all within the same platform.
 

You recently launched a new benchmarking and reporting tool to provide destinations with new sustainability insights in real time. How can this empower hotels and tourism businesses to mitigate their environmental burden?

Through our partnership with the Good Travel Alliance, we have launched a benchmarking tool that, once populated with enough data, will deliver targeted insights for destinations and providers. The tool leverages universal Key Performance Indicators to create consistent and comparable sustainability metrics across all participating destinations and businesses. Also, with access to real-time data, hotels and tourism businesses can make better-informed decisions about how to reduce their carbon emissions, improve waste management, and optimise energy consumption. Crucially, this tool helps them answer one of the most common and important questions: “How are we doing compared to others?”
 

There is also a need for many companies to adjust their operations to EU regulations − such as the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) − while reducing administrative burdens and red tape. How can these pressures and incentives push SMEs to adopt an autonomous 360-degree strategy?

Sooner or later, every tourism business will be pushed, either by regulations or by their customers, to adopt sustainability into their strategy. What is important is that we highlight the upside potential early and clearly. In the end, these are still businesses, and we need to stop treating sustainability as something separate from revenue.

While compliance requirements such as the CSRD may be the initial motivator, it is crucial that businesses do not view this solely as a reporting burden. Instead, by emphasising the business upside − such as improved reputation, efficiency gains, and competitive advantage − sustainability becomes a long-term success driver that positively affects both the top and bottom line.
 

"What sets us apart is our sector-specific approach. We have identified for many years that if you really want to solve sustainability challenges, you need to delve into the specific issues facing each sector."
 

What are the key obstacles and most common challenges sustainability planners or travel agents face when integrating new technologies? How can they overcome them?

The primary challenge is access, there is still not enough data or sufficient options. We are still early in the adoption curve. Today, many event planners struggle to find verified sustainability data for the providers they want to work with. The data is scattered, fragmented, and often not accessible.

The key to overcoming this challenge is scaling data availability and aggregation so that planners can make informed, responsible choices with ease. As the industry evolves, professionals should focus on improving their digital literacy, data interpretation skills, and familiarity with sustainability frameworks and tools that support transparent reporting and decision-making.
 

As a start-up with a laudable mission and an already vast portfolio of clients, what are the most notable partnerships you have embraced?

We have the privilege of working with some of the most respected brands in the travel and hospitality industry. Two standout partnerships include Radisson and Booking.com. These companies have embraced our technology to elevate their sustainability journeys, and their collaboration with BeCause reflects the kind of impact we aim to have at scale − simplifying sustainability, increasing transparency, and empowering action. Both their cases can be explored on our website.

Published by Meeting Media Company, the publisher of Headquarters Magazine (HQ) – a leading international publication based in Brussels, serving the global MICE industry and association community.