Behind the Quote: Hilton and the Hilton Global Foundation Announce Notable Year of Progress Towards 2030 Travel with Purpose Goals
Hospitality Net's Behind the Quote (BTQ) initiative aims to provide deeper insights and a more comprehensive understanding of selected stories published on Hospitality Net.
This time, Willy Legrand had the opportunity of diving deeper into a recent press release by Hilton: 'Hilton and the Hilton Global Foundation Announce Notable Year of Progress Towards 2030 Travel with Purpose Goals'. Willy posed three insightful questions to Katherine Lugar, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs, Hilton who provided expert responses.
How are Hilton’s franchisees encouraged to engage in Hilton’s sustainability performance targets? Do brand standards play a role?
As one of the largest hospitality companies in the world, we have a remarkable opportunity – and responsibility – to make a positive impact in the communities where we live and work. Across our network of franchised properties, Hilton"s team members play a critical role in these efforts to create a better world for travel through our Travel with Purpose program.
As part of this program, every Hilton hotel around the world can leverage our award-winning and propriety sustainability management platform, LightStay, to measure and manage their property"s environmental and social impact. Through LightStay, properties can track their progress and contribution towards our global 2030 Travel with Purpose environmental, social and governance goals. By enabling all hotels, including franchisees, to track their energy, water, waste and social impact, LightStay helps them reduce their environmental footprint, reduce costs, operate more efficiently and track positive contributions to their communities. Since 2009, our global portfolio of hotels has saved more than $1 billion in utility costs by measuring and managing hotel energy, water and waste through LightStay.
Are there specific methods used to ensure an alignment of owners, operators and the brands at Hilton in regards to sustainability performance?
Hilton was founded over 100 years ago on the premise that hospitality has the power to be an unstoppable force for good. Today, that premise is a core part of our culture and inspires the work we do every day to support our owners, franchisees, team members, guests and the communities where we operate.
Hilton supports its ownership community by tracking their energy use, identifying relevant utility incentives to support their own sustainability journey and helping them implement low or no cost energy efficiency measures. This critical work protects the future of our industry, increases operational efficiencies intended to drive strong hotel performance, mitigates against costly risks and drives guest satisfaction and loyalty.
Additionally, we continue to introduce innovative ways to attract guests and enhance their stays, such as installing thousands of EV chargers at our hotels. We"ve also introduced special offerings through Meet with Purpose that drive group business and help customers meet their own sustainability goals.
Following the Travel with Purpose 2023 report where sustainability achievements are presented, are there third-party verifications to assess the ongoing impacts of these interventions (e.g. land restored; meal donations?
Our Travel with Purpose targets are science-backed and third-party validated. As outlined in our 2023 Travel with Purpose report, Hilton engaged third-party certifiers such as DEKRA Certification, Inc. to provide an independent review and assurance to our efforts. Additionally, we report publicly through other entities, such as the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), Dow Jones Sustainability Index and other Hilton public financial disclosures. The Hilton Global Foundation works closely with its grantees to validate and attest to the impact of their efforts at the local level. At Hilton, we"re committed to best-in-class governance practices and will continue to ensure we operate with accountability, integrity and transparency in everything we do.
