Travel Proud
Travel Proud is our way of making travel more inclusive for the LGBTQ+ community. Complete our Proud Hospitality training session to help you and your staff understand and connect with LGBTQ+ travelers. When you commit to building on what you learn to make your property more welcoming, you’ll become Proud Certified on our platform.
1 in 3 LGBTQ+ travelers fear judgement from hotel staff. Together we can change that.
A world everyone can experience
Research shows that a third of LGBTQ+ travelers fear judgement from hotel staff, meaning a huge part of the travel population still can’t comfortably show up as themselves. Because our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world, we’re setting out to change this.
That’s why we designed the Travel Proud program, to help remove the barriers that LGBTQ+ travelers face. We want to showcase inclusive properties on a dedicated page for your city. You can show that your property is inclusive by becoming Proud Certified in just three steps:
Helping you deliver Proud Hospitality
The Proud Hospitality training session is your first step towards becoming Proud Certified. We partnered with the inclusive hospitality experts at HospitableMe to bring you this training, which is delivered in English. It aims to help you understand and connect with LGBTQ+ travelers, and give you insights and practical approaches to inclusivity.
We’re making this session available to all our partners free of charge. After completing it, you’ll be empowered to engage with guests from all kinds of backgrounds and to identify ways to make it easier for every kind of person to experience the world as themselves.
Showing travelers your property is inclusive
We want travelers to know that at your property they can show up as themselves. That’s why we offer you the opportunity to be recognized as Proud Certified.
Once you complete the three simple steps to becoming Proud Certified, we’ll showcase your property on a dedicated page for your city. This is where travelers can find and book properties they can be sure will offer an inclusive stay.
We already have city pages live for Amsterdam, Berlin, and Manchester. And we’ll be adding more as partners in other cities become Proud Certified.
Hear from our Proud Certified partners
"I found Proud Hospitality to be a very good, high-quality program. The company that Booking.com chose to deliver the training was great, and the content was extremely relevant. I’m part of the LGBTQ+ community and even I learned so many new things."
Bruno Ducasse, Group Leisure Sales Manager, Valor Hospitality
"The Proud Hospitality training shares insights about how the LGBTQ+ community thinks and travels, and how to make them feel welcome. I’ve learned lots from the training, which really helps you understand other perspectives – and that's essential for delivering excellent hospitality."
Patrick Brand, Owner, Spinoza Suites
FAQ
Why do I need to take a training session to become Proud Certified?
Travel Proud certification is a way for us to tell travelers what they can expect if they stay at your property. The Proud Hospitality training session helps prepare you to offer your guests what being Proud Certified promises. The 75-minute online course covers the barriers that LGBTQ+ guests often face, and will help you to make your property more inclusive by seeing things from a different perspective. The course is offered in English and hosted live by two experts who you can interact with and ask questions.
What’s HospitableMe?
HospitableMe is a global strategy and education company specializing in inclusive hospitality. They’re particularly focused on the travel industry, empowering businesses to engage with LGBTQ+ guests in authentic and personalized ways. We developed our Proud Hospitality training session in partnership with them, to help you understand the unique challenges faced by LGBTQ+ travelers.
Where is Travel Proud available?
After piloting in Amsterdam, Berlin, and Manchester, we’re now excited to be expanding to a total of 24 cities in the Netherlands, Germany, and the UK. We’re also planning on rolling out the Travel Proud program to more locations in the future.
How much does the training session cost?
Nothing at all. We’re serious about making it easier for everyone to experience the world. That’s why it’s important that we make travel more inclusive, and why we’re not charging our partners for the training session. Our only requirement is that you’re as serious as we are about putting what you learn into practice and identifying ways to remove barriers for LGBTQ+ travelers at your property.
What has Booking.com done to make itself more inclusive?
Proud Hospitality and Proud Certified are just part of what we’re doing to become more inclusive. The Book Proud part of the Travel Proud program also involves overhauling the language we use on Booking.com to make sure it’s inclusive – not just for LGBTQ+ travelers, but for everyone.
Inclusiveness is in our own company’s DNA as well. We believe our teams do their best work when they’re able to comfortably be themselves. We’re proud to be number one in the Financial Times’ Diversity Leaders 2020 list of European employers. And for over five years, our B.Proud employee resource group has supported LGBTQ+ staff and allies, helping to foster an even more diverse, inclusive culture at Booking.com.
