Corporate Travel Planners Look for Specifics on Hotel Sustainability Efforts
Recycling, Water Usage, Carbon Footprint Among Key Data Points
As the world grapples with weather extremes ranging from intense heat to torrential storms to dangerous droughts, business travelers want to know that when they stay at a particular hotel there are some efforts to promote sustainability.
Today's travel planners don't just want environmental platitudes from hotels when seeking proposals for corporate travel agreements. They are looking for metrics on reducing carbon footprints, water usage, recycling and other areas.
"We believe this is a new era of travel, and sustainable travel is becoming an increasingly important consideration for travel planners as business travel returns," Jean Garris Hand, Hilton's vice president of global environmental, social and governance, said. "When customers choose Hilton to host their events, they’re looking for a partner to help them create meaningful change in the attendee experience and also drive positive impact for the environment and in the communities they visit."
Companies want to see specifics from hotels in their environmental programs, and they are looking for measurable data associated with these initiatives. Hilton, for example, has LightStay, a proprietary tool that tracks environmental and social impact. Its Meeting Impact Calculator tool gives event planner customers the opportunity to see an estimated carbon footprint for their events using each hotel’s specific utility and emissions data, she said.
