There's a perfect time to think of sustainability when building a hotel – and that's when the hotel is still only an idea. We lay down plans, goals and accreditations we want to achieve at the earliest planning stages, then apply them to the concept, design and construction. We think sustainability is as important as being a good neighbour.

We require all our new-build hotels to achieve at least BREEAM-NC Very Good accreditation or LEED-BD+C Gold rating. For our redevelopments or existing buildings, we aim for BREEAM-NC Very Good and LEED-BD+C Silver. After the first year of operations, we start assessing our building operations performance with BREEAM In Use.
So far, 90% of our buildings have a ‘green building’ certificate. Curious what these accreditations mean?
Here's where you can dive into BREEAM assessments, or read all about the LEED rating system.

We're moving swiftly towards worldwide accreditations! To date, 100% of all citizenM hotels have achieved at least one 'green building' certification or are in the certification process. Here are our ratings so far:

Amstel Amsterdam - in-use certification BREEAM Excellent

Amsterdam Schiphol Airport - in-use certification BREEAM Good

Amsterdam Zuid - in-use certification BREEAM Very Good

Chicago DownTown - in-use certification BREEAM Excellent

Rotterdam - in-use certification BREEAM Very Good

Glasgow - in-use certification BREEAM Pass

London Bankside - new construction certification BREEAM Very Good and in-use certification BREEAM Good

Tower of London - new construction certification BREEAM Excellent and in-use certification BREEAM Good

London Shoreditch - new construction certification BREEAM Outstanding and in-use certification BREEAM Good

Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport - in-use certification BREEAM Pass

Paris La Defense - new construction certification BREEAM Very Good and in-use certification BREEAM Good

Paris Champs-Elysees - new construction certification BREEAM Very Good

Paris Gare de Lyon - in-use certification BREEAM Good

Zurich - in-use certification BREEAM Good

Copenhagen Radhuspladsen - in-use certification BREEAM Very Good

Boston North Station - new construction certification LEED Gold and in-use certification BREEAM Excellent

Seattle South Lake Union - new construction certification LEED Gold

Washington DC Capitol - new construction certification LEED Gold and in-use certification BREEAM Excellent

Washington Noma -new construction certification LEED Gold and in-use certification BREEAM Excellent

LA downtown - new construction certification LEED Gold

New York Times Square - in-use certification BREEAM Very Good

New York Bowery - in-use certification BREEAM Very Good

We're optimising our operations to reduce our impact. This section covers our approach towards water use, energy use, food and plastic.

third party data audits
Each year, we have our energy, emissions, waste, and water data audited by a third party as we feel it is important to ensure the accuracy and credibility of the data we collect.

We actively monitor the water we use in each hotel through smart metres and water conservation features, then measure the changes and their impact.

water conservation
We implemented water conservation features in our restrooms, bathrooms and kitchens/pantries. We install low-flow fixtures (like aerators, which reduce both water and energy use) on all taps. Dishwashers are always full before operation, never at half capacity. Wherever possible, we look for the EPA WaterSense label when purchasing fixtures and appliances.

We look at all the ways we use energy, so we can make smart decisions in all areas. Every year, we use this information to monitor and measure our greenhouse gas emissions and identify positive changes we can make. We carry out energy audits to check systems are optimised.

green electricity
Wherever possible, the electricity we purchase for our hotels comes from green energy. 100% of our hotels are powered by green electricity.

energy efficiency – lighting
We use a lot of natural light and task-lighting to reduce the need for overhead lighting. All our frequently unoccupied spaces (corridors, meeting rooms, break rooms and restrooms) have occupancy sensors installed. Goodbye, illuminated empty rooms! We prioritise LED lighting, reducing our wattage and energy usage.

energy efficiency – heating and air conditioning
All areas of our hotels have individual light and temperature controls – so we only heat and cool what we need. Our thermostats have flexible ranges set by the property management teams. They adapt the temperature to a few degrees cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter, rather than keeping a strictly set temperature in any season – leading to energy savings and reduced environmental impact.

In the guestrooms, the guests adjust their own temperature by using the MoodPad (a specially adapted bedside iPad) or our free app. They can further adapt the room to their comfort by rolling the curtains or blackout blinds as they wish.

energy efficiency monitoring
Via a central hotel dashboard, we monitor room temperature in each unoccupied room and adjust it as necessary. With our clever tech, lights in guest rooms switch on when a guest checks in, and switch off automatically when the guest checks out.

renewable energy
We are increasingly looking to incorporate renewable energy into the construction of our hotels. Wherever technically and economically viable, we aim to have solar panels. Solar panels are already installed on some of our hotels and we hope to have even more in the future.

At the heart of every citizenM hotel, there's canteenM – an open-but-cosy kitchen where delicious food and drinks are available 24/7. Each hotel menu has dishes suitable for vegetarian and vegan travellers.

food selection
We select specific (preferably local) suppliers who produce and source sustainable products for our menus and events. We also collaborate with them to reduce our waste, including food and packaging waste. Additionally, by limiting our suppliers and consolidating deliveries, we reduce the number of vehicles arriving at our hotels for a lesser impact on the environment.

food waste
We have been rethinking the way we act to reduce our food waste. We are working hard to increase the coverage of the Too Good To Go app in our hotels to further minimise our food waste. Since 2019, over 16,000 meals have avoided landfill.

coffee
We purchase and work with coffee roasters who really shine not only for their amazing coffee beans, but for their community and sustainability practices too.

plastic in canteenM and meeting rooms
We have banned plastic straws from all canteenM kitchens. In the meeting rooms, we keep large glass bottles and serve unlimited free refills.

plastic in the guestrooms
We removed all plastic bottles from our European and US hotels.

plastic in the shower
Mini shower gels? Too small for real people, too big a problem for the planet. Since 2008 (and our first hotel) we've been using full-size, refillable shampoos/shower gels and hand soaps. Small change – big impact.

waste
Every year, we collect our waste data and record our recycling rates to identify improvements and set new goals. We work with waste providers to reduce our landfill waste. In 2022, over 95% of our waste didn’t go to landfill.

citizenM hotels are filled with wonderful people – that's everyone who stays and works with us. We want everyone to feel safe, healthy and happy anytime they come through our door, anywhere from Amsterdam to Taipei.

The business of hospitality is about people - ALL people. On the front line of citizenM are our employees, the faces and smiles of our hotels.

The citizenM values and unique culture are worth protecting, it’s the bright buzzing spark that makes us unique. We take the health, wellbeing and safety of our employees and guests seriously, ensuring safe and healthy working conditions, in order to prevent harm. Health and safety rules and regulations apply at all our locations.

employee survey
As a company, we value our employees speaking up, and we want them to feel confident and comfortable to share anything they want to say. Our company-wide employee survey runs twice a year, is completely confidential and gives everyone an opportunity to answer questions and share their own comments. Once the results are collected, they are reviewed, shared with all employees, and clear actions are presented to address the issues raised. We want our employees to feel like their concerns are heard and that they have the power to influence change in an environment of trust and transparency.

diversity committee
Our active diversity committee promotes diversity, equity and inclusion across the company through educational workshops, talks and more. The goal of the committee is to create a workplace culture that values and supports these three states.

citizenM was built for mobile citizens of the world – those who cross continents as easily as others cross streets. That's why we choose prime city-centre locations with excellent connections to airports and trains, proximity to major business districts and cultural landmarks. Our guests are primarily business travellers, but leisure travellers love our style too.

contactless stay
We are the first global hotel chain to introduce fully contactless stays, from arrival to departure – via the free citizenM app.

With the app, any guest can check-in, move through the hotel, browse food and drink menus, pay for items, control the entire room ambiance (from lights and blinds to TV and temperature), set a housekeeping schedule, chat to staff and check-out – touching nothing but their own smartphone.

The contactless stay – coupled with our cleanliness standards – gives the reassurance today's travellers seek from their hotel experience.

health and safety
All citizenM rooms are the same (that's right, no singles or suites here – all guests enjoy a consistent experience no matter where they stay). This makes keeping our superb hygiene standards very easy. All rooms feature minimal surfaces to clean, innovative materials like Corian®, and no carpets, bedspreads or chocolate on pillows. Our rooms have always been independently ventilated with 100% fresh air (instead of being recirculated).

speedy check-in
There are no reception desks at citizenM, and therefore no queues to reception. All guests check-in via the super-speedy self-service kiosks (average check-in speed is 1 minute), or via our free app on their way to the hotel or right after arrival. The friendly, helpful citizenM ambassadors are nearby 24-7 to assist and answer any questions.

living rooms
At home, people usually sleep in the bedroom and hang out in the living room to work, watch TV, surf the internet, share a drink with friends, or stretch out on the couch with a book. We design all our hotels to replicate this 'at home' feeling as much as possible. We replaced boring, traditional lobbies with our signature living rooms – featuring ultra-comfortable Vitra furniture, soft pillows, hundreds of books and interesting objects, plus superfast free Wi-Fi for working or web-surfing.

art
citizenM believes in art as much as it believes in fluffy pillows. We like to say 'a blank wall is a wasted opportunity', and so a blank wall is very hard to find at citizenM. All hotels boast a curated selection of bespoke commissioned artworks (usually from local artists) mixed with choice pieces by world-renowned names. There are no pastel landscapes – our art is impactful and colourful, the kind that stops you in your tracks. Its purpose is not just decorative – we know many of our guests have little time for a gallery break, so we bring the gallery to them. Best of all, our guests can enjoy our art just like at home... on the couch, with their shoes off.

the room
Everything in the citizenM room has been ingeniously designed around sleeping, relaxing or refreshing. Our room philosophy is 'supersized essentials, nothing you don't need'.

The most striking feature of any citizenM room is the supersized XL king-size bed, topped with luxurious Italian linen and the fluffiest of fluffy pillows. Above the bed there's a wall-mounted smart TV loaded with TV channels, radio stations, free movies (except in Asia) and streaming options (via the superfast free Wi-Fi, of course).

Each room has a large shower with water pressure to rival Niagara Falls, overhead rain and hand-held nozzles, and two full-size shampoos/shower gels specially designed to refresh in the AM and calm in the PM.

High-tech blackout blinds help block out all light, and there's a rolling curtain to help set the optimal amount of light in the room (no gaps!).

The entire room ambience – lights, blinds, temperature, entertainment, coloured lights, Brainwaves soundtracks – is controlled via the bedside MoodPad (specially adapted iPad tablet) or via the free citizenM app on the guest's own phone. There's no need to touch wall switches – the controls are part of the citizenM ultra-safe contactless experience.

stress-reducing fitness
citizenM rooms are 14 sq m in size, but that cosy space doesn't mean there's no room for fitness. Guests can connect their device to our superfast free Wi-Fi to stream their favourite small-space workout. We also pre-loaded our TVs with Gymbox fitness videos for our rooms – cardio, yoga, or dance – created especially for mobile citizens.

Brainwaves music
We collaborated with the neuroscientists at Goldsmiths University, the composers from Erased Tapes, and the Soundscape Agency to produce an album of music unlike any other. It’s called Brainwaves and is the first of its kind in the world – scientifically created, tested and proven to alleviate the common frustrations of travel: flight anxiety, focus difficulties and poor sleep. Brainwaves are free to enjoy and easily accessed via the 'moods' menu on the MoodPad or the free citizenM app.

Meet our charity: citizenMovement. Our goal: shortening the distance between people and opportunities.

As a global company, we know we have the ability to be a force for good by using our platforms to give back to society. Real caring is a core value at citizenM, and it doesn't just stop at our doors.

We thought about what really makes us who we are – and the thing that defines citizenM is motion. We never stop planning, dreaming and discovering. It’s even in our name – citizenM stands for ‘citizen mobile’. From here, it was only a short jump to calling our charity The citizenMovement Foundation. And the charity’s goal? To use the goodwill of citizenM staff and guests to make movement possible, shortening the distance between people and opportunities by giving the gift of mobility.

Our partner, World Bicycle Relief, is the perfect fit for our goal. It’s no surprise this charity really tugged at the strings of the collective citizenM hearts. WBR envisions a world where distance is never a barrier to education, healthcare, or independence. One simple item can help topple this barrier by making a new future possible – a bicycle.

World Bicycle Relief mobilises people through The Power of Bicycles, as well as their Bicycles for Educational Empowerment Program (BEEP) in rural Africa to help schoolchildren conquer the challenges of distance, achieve independence and thrive. A bicycle means better attendance, improved academic performance, and a higher chance of completing an education. A trip to school that took hours on foot can be completed in minutes by bike, thanks to WBR.

See the next section to find out what results we achieved for World Bicycle Relief so far.

Since 2018, citizenMovement has donated over 1.5 million euros to our long-term charity partner, World Bicycle Relief – funding over 5500 bikes for communities in Sub-Saharan Africa. How we raised the funds: citizenM bike rides from London to Paris and Paris to Rotterdam, individual donations, citizenM internal events (e.g. charity walks and bike challenges) – and from 2018 to 2020, we donated the money saved from our guests saying ‘no’ to extra room cleaning to WBR.

2021 saw the launch of citizenMovement’s new digital fundraising strategy. Every guest staying two nights or more could say ‘no’ to extra room cleaning during their stay using the citizenM app or in-room iPad. When they do, we’ll donate 3 euros per night on their behalf. See what we’ve donated so far – we update it every month.

In 2022, we raised over 1.5 million euros from this digital fundraising strategy. The success of strategy meant we could support World Bicycle Relief’s bigger projects like Mobilized Communities in Zomba, Malawi.

'Conscious travelling' – and 'conscious travellers' – are phrases you hear more and more in relation to flying, tourism, hospitality and general globetrotting. This is because of rising awareness of the impact of travel. Today's conscious travellers want to minimise this impact – they are mindful about how they move around the world and interact with communities they visit. citizenM wants to be the hotel of choice for all conscious travellers.

Conscious travellers think holistically how their travel choices impact the world and the communities they visit – but this responsibility shouldn't be shouldered by the traveller alone. The hospitality industry can do a lot to make conscious travel easy. Here are a few examples of what we do:

skip an extra room clean
When a guest chooses to say 'no' to a room cleaning, we donate 3 EUR on their behalf to citizenMovement. Like all good things in life, it's not the only reaction in the chain. There is a benefit to the environment too. Less room cleaning means we take fewer trips to our laundry provider, and use less energy, water, detergents and cleaning supplies. Guest feedback about this initiative continues to inspire us.

in control
Room temperature presets can reduce the energy we use in our hotels, and reduce our carbon footprint too. Getting this right is easy at citizenM, thanks to clever tech. We put the simple controls on our room iPads and on the free citizenM app – cooling a room is as easy as a touch or a swipe. No complicated wall units and buttons here!

eating for the planet
We serve vegetarian and vegan food at all our hotels. The menus are regularly updated throughout the year to optimise the use of in-season products from our (mostly) local suppliers. Best of all, in the free citizenM app, guests can see all food and beverage menus before they book a stay – knowing in advance makes conscious travel easier.

free bikes
Our four Dutch hotels have free bike fleets for easy, eco-friendly city commute. Guests in Amsterdam and Rotterdam can ask for a bike on a first-come-first-served basis. In case all bikes are already in use, we will recommend a great local rental place.

unlocking community experiences
A booking via our app unlocks a whole world of local experiences, places to visit, and perks from hand-picked partners in all our cities. We gather our recommendations into great lists like 'best green spaces in town', 'running routes' and 'late-night cocktails' to help conscious travellers experience the community like a local.

lend a helping hand
Every citizenM worldwide has a new activity that either benefits the environment, our guests’ sustainable living habits or the local art and culture communities. Now, conscious travellers have a place to stay without worrying about the footprint they leave behind.

more to come
We are working on more initiatives for conscious travellers. In the meantime, there's much more good stuff in the 'growing and operating sustainably' chapter above – like how we deal with water, energy, food waste and plastic.