Hilton Hotels Corp. has big green goals: reduce energy consumption from direct operations by 20 percent; reduce carbon emissions by 20 percent; reduce output of waste by 20 percent; and reduce water consumption by 20 percent.
In the past year, in partnership with Blu Skye Sustainability Consulting, Hilton conducted an assessment of its global operations with the goal of identifying current impact and creating a strategy to build sustainability into the business. With the guidance of newly named VP, global sustainability, Christopher Corpuel, the company aims to reach its green goals by 2014.
Marriott International, meanwhile, signed an agreement in May with the Brazilian State of Amazonas to commit $2 million to an environmental management plan administered by the Amazonas Sustainable Foundation. The project will support employment, education, and healthcare for the 500 residents of the Juma Sustainable Reserve. (The Foundation is seeking certification of the conservation project by an accredited environmental auditing firm.)
Now, meeting planners have a chance to contribute to the foundation as well by booking programs at Marriott brands. The bookings must occur between now and December 31, 2009, for meetings taking place through December 31, 2011. For qualified meetings, hotels will make a cash donation in the name of the group, equal to 5 percent of the cost of the group's guest rooms.
For more details on the rain-forest partnership and Marriott's five-point “green” strategy, go to www.marriott.com/environment. You can also sign up to be notified when Bill Marriott posts a new entry to his blog. The entries can be chatty and a bit corny — or genuinely moving, as in a recent post about families of Marriott employees affected by the earthquakes in China.
