This is a Roomex-commissioned report (July 2026, based on a survey of 510 UK business decision-makers and 534 work travellers) about “The Accommodation Visibility Gap” — the disconnect between reporting travel emissions after a stay and having carbon data available when accommodation is actually being booked.
Core argument: workforce accommodation (for engineers, construction, retail, hospitality, etc.) is essential and largely unavoidable, so the real opportunity isn’t cutting travel but managing it better. Key findings: 71% of decision-makers call workforce accommodation essential or important, but only 27% have full visibility of its carbon impact and just 24% can easily compare carbon data before booking. 85% say operational priorities (cost, location, availability, urgency) outweigh carbon at least sometimes, and bookings are often made under time pressure (54% frequently), which narrows choices further.
Carbon data, when it exists, usually arrives after the booking rather than during it — useful for reporting but too late to influence the decision. Workers also feel the downstream effects: 75% say accommodation location has made their working day longer, harder or more stressful (earlier starts, longer commutes, reliance on cars, fatigue). Ownership of accommodation is fragmented across teams (72% report shared or unclear ownership), which makes it harder to connect cost, carbon, location and worker experience into one view.
On the positive side: 70% of workers would accept lower-carbon accommodation if it didn’t add to travel time or cut into rest, and 59% of decision-makers expect carbon reporting to play a bigger role in booking decisions within five years. The report concludes that closing this gap means bringing carbon data into the booking moment itself (not just post-stay reporting) and unifying booking/reporting systems — which is essentially the case for Roomex’s own platform (integrated with SQUAKE for CO2e estimates), pitched in the closing section.
Download
