Environmental Issues
Our Commitment to the Environment
At Hilton Hotels Corporation, protecting the Environment is a top priority. Responsible environmental activity is good for both our business and the community. Hilton has developed a comprehensive company-wide policy to promote business practices that help preserve the environment. We provide guidelines for all of our facilities, and our goals are to "Reduce - Reuse - Recycle" as much as we can.
Water Conservation
Nearly every hotel within our Family of Hotels takes part in our "Green Program --Conserve to Preserve." By asking our guests when they would like their sheets and towels changed, we save over 12 million gallons of fresh water a month while also reducing waste water and the use of chemicals and energy resources. Hilton®, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Hilton Grand Vacations and Homewood Suites® by Hilton hotels all participate in this program. The Green Program enables our guests to decide when the room attendant will change the bed linens. Upon check-in to the hotel guests are informed (usually by a card placed on the side of the bed) that the bed linens are fresh and clean and that the sheets will typically be changed on each third night of their stay. If a guest elects, they can request to have their sheets changed daily by simply placing the card on the bed or calling housekeeping or the guest service hotline. Thereafter, the room attendant will provide a change of sheets daily.
As part of the Green Program, another information card is placed on the towel rack along side clean towels. If a guest elects, they can re-hang the used towels on the rack and they will not be laundered daily. If the guest would like the towels changed, they simply place the towels on the floor or in the bathtub. The room attendant will then replace the used towels with clean fresh ones daily.
Laundering linens for our hotels uses an enormous amount of water. Hilton continues to implement programs to provide the latest in laundering equipment that utilize the greatest water reduction technologies. By investing in state-of-the-art equipment we have reduced the amount of water used to clean every pound of linens from approximately two (2) gallons of water downward to one (1) gallon. For example, full service occupied rooms on average use 11.5 pounds of linens per room, so a single large, fully-occupied hotel (1500 rooms) with a typical stay of two nights can reduce water usage, through implementation of these programs, by over 17,000 gallons during the two day period.
Electrical Energy Conservation
Several years ago, Hilton implemented a corporate wide energy efficient lighting retrofit program for our guestrooms. By using state-of-the-art compact fluorescent and other lighting technology, we provide an environment that our guests desire while significantly reducing our use of the natural resources that are utilized to power these products. As an example, the average guestroom has 750 watts of lighting using incandescent bulbs. After our retrofit the room has approximately 220 watts for a reduction of 70%, while actually increasing the level of light, making the room brighter for our guests. These company-wide efforts over the past decade have allowed us to conserve millions of watts of electricity, on an annualized basis, without impacting the comfort of our guests. We continue to work with manufacturers and the Environmental Protection Agency, through its EnergyStar® program, to identify further opportunities and then develop and test new lighting technologies to continue to reduce energy/natural resource usage.
Hilton is also actively evaluating and implementing additional "green" technologies in our facilities including solar technology, co-generation, and fuel cells use as they become increasingly more affordable and reliable. These technologies will allow us to further decrease our dependence on current energy providers and resources.
Recycling
Hilton is committed to preserving our environment and in the early 1990's, instituted the initial company recycling program guidelines, which provided training and specific instructions on how to start and manage a successful recycling program. This program has recently been incorporated into our Engineering manual, and remains in the Housekeeping manual. Both are available to all our Family of Hotels through our internal Intranet site.
One area that is getting increased attention is in-room recycling. Most of the materials collected in guest rooms are recyclable items such as cans, bottles, newspapers, magazines, and office paper. We recently formed a team to re-examine our current efforts to see how we can improve these in-room programs, and give our guests the opportunity to participate.
The hospitality industry has the potential to dramatically reduce the amount it contributes to our landfills. Hotels generate large quantities of recyclable plastics, cardboard, aluminum and steel cans, glass and cooking oil as well as foodstuffs that can be recycled. Through our combined efforts we can all make a substantial and favorable impact on our environment, reducing the waste stream to landfills and related energy usage transporting and processing these products.
Preserving the Environment
Proof of the commitment is shown by the fact that Hilton was the first company in our industry to receive the EnergyStar® award from the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy. We continue to look for new ways to reduce energy and improve the environment we all live in.
Our team members also play a role by participating in various communities outreach projects, such as planting trees, cleaning beaches and undertaking other activities that help restore our natural resources. We believe that all Americans should take action to protect our environment for today and for the future.
