Most UK businesses cannot see comparable carbon information at the point of booking workforce accommodation, leaving them unable to act on sustainability commitments even when they want to, new research suggests.
Just 24 per cent of UK business decision-makers say they can easily compare carbon data before booking accommodation for mobile workers, according to workforce travel platform Roomex. A third (33 per cent) can see the information for only some of the options in front of them, while 38 per cent receive it after the booking has been made, or not at all.
The findings, published in Roomex’s The Accommodation Visibility Gap report, point to a structural problem for firms with mobile workforces. Many are measuring accommodation emissions after employees have travelled, but lack the data needed to reduce them at the moment a booking decision is actually made.
Data arrives too late to change decisions
For the construction firms, engineering contractors and field service businesses that rely on project-based stays, accommodation is not a discretionary spend. Roomex found workforce accommodation is essential or important to 71 per cent of organisations, enabling staff to reach sites, projects and customers.
That makes the timing of carbon information critical. Emissions data that lands in a quarterly report cannot influence a booking made weeks earlier. For SMEs facing growing pressure from larger clients to evidence supply chain emissions, and from the government’s environmental reporting framework, the gap between measurement and decision-making is becoming harder to ignore.
Keith Watson, president at Roomex, said: “Businesses are being asked to reduce the carbon impact of workforce travel without always having the information they need to do it. The research shows that carbon data is often missing, difficult to compare, or only available after accommodation has been booked. By that point, the decision has already been made.
“Businesses need clear, comparable carbon information while they are weighing up cost, location and availability. That allows them to choose a lower-carbon option where it works for the job.”
Cost and location still come first
The research is clear-eyed about where carbon sits in the pecking order. In 85 per cent of organisations, cost, location, availability or project urgency take priority over carbon impact at least some of the time. That chimes with wider industry findings that cost saving remains the top priority for business travel programmes in 2026.
Policy is another barrier. Nearly two-thirds (63 per cent) of organisations say bookers need approval, or simply cannot select, a lower-carbon option if it costs more or sits further from the worksite. For travel bookers in smaller firms, that often means the greener choice is off the table before it is considered.
What businesses can do now
The report calls on businesses to connect their accommodation search, booking, approval and reporting data, so that carbon can be weighed up before a room is booked rather than only measured afterwards. That echoes the growing view that technology and policy are the key levers for buyers pursuing sustainable travel strategies.
For SMEs, the practical starting point is asking booking providers what carbon data they can surface at the point of search. Roomex, which centralises workforce accommodation booking and reporting, supports CO2e estimates for stays through its partnership with SQUAKE, allowing organisations to view carbon impact alongside cost and location when managing bookings.
