Fair Money & Economic Opportunity

Hostelworld Group PLC operates as an online travel agent, facilitating accommodation bookings.

Its business model does not involve lending, insuring, moving, or storing money for consumers, nor does it offer consumer credit products. Therefore, all KPIs related to fair money and economic opportunity, such as underserved client share, pricing fairness, exploitative fee exposure, inclusion initiatives, data accessibility, fair lending compliance, wealth building outcomes, financial literacy initiatives, debt burden ratio, geographic inclusion, and product simplicity, are not applicable to its core business model.

Fair Pay & Worker Respect

The company had one substantiated labor-law violation, warehousing €9.6 million in payroll taxes owed to the Irish Revenue Commissioners at 31 December 2023.

A 3-year repayment plan was agreed upon, starting with a 15% downpayment in May 2024. The voluntary employee turnover rate was 19.4% in 2023, showing a decreasing trend year-on-year since 2022. The company offers 27 days of annual leave , 3 wellbeing days , and 5 volunteering days . It also provides fertility leave, surrogacy leave, and a menopause at work policy, alongside an Employee Assistance Programme and mandatory DE&I training. Hostelworld Group plc received Silver accreditation by the Irish Centre for Diversity in 2023 and supports the UN Standards of Conduct for Business Tackling Discrimination against LGBTQIA+ People.

Planet-Friendly Business

Hostelworld Group PLC, as an online travel agent, reported total Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions of 2,419 tCO2e in 2023

, with Scope 1 and 2 emissions at 7 tCO2e. The company has set Scope 1 and 2 targets in 2021 in accordance with Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi) criteria. In 2024, it set Scope 3 targets to reduce emissions by 37.5% by 2035 and 90% by 2040 , though these Scope 3 targets are not explicitly stated as SBTi-validated. For its supply chain, 84% of purchased consumables in 2023 were with suppliers who have established their own SBTi targets. Hostelworld has committed to reaching net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. The company's sustainability report is prepared in line with TCFD requirements , includes a TCFD Report, and embeds climate-related risks and opportunities within its governance, operations, strategic model, and risk management system.

Safe & Smart Tech

The company has rolled out tailored employee training on ethical and regulatory considerations of AI.

AI features are deployed using a phased rollout approach with controlled safe-to-fail experiments and manual oversight, ensuring human intervention remains central. AI tools are confined to secure environments with encryption and monitoring controls. The company is PCI compliant. It maintains a data protection framework aligned with GDPR and has a Data Protection Officer. Its social strategy uses an opt-in mechanism for chat rooms and private messaging channels, with access limited to 14 days before check-in and closing three days after check-out. The company complies with laws , adheres to leading industry standards , and proactively reviews and updates processes for regulations such as the Digital Services Act, the EU Package Travel Directive, ePrivacy Directive, California Privacy Rights Act, and DAC 7 EU Tax directive.