The team at Hilton Dusseldorf decided to use the United Nations World Environment Day to its fool capacity in doing something good not only for the environment (we care!), but also for the hotel (Project Readiness), and its guests (SALT). As challenging times require a different way of thinking, the idea of a Clean-up Day was born. A team of volunteers from all departments in the hotel cleaned up the entire surroundings of the hotel on June 5, 2009. In order to learn how to act in a more environmentally acceptable the team only used eco-friendly cleaning supplies and ensured that all garbage collected from around the hotel was properly sorted and sent for recycling. More plants have been arranged around the property to make it more green.

Team members at Hilton Cyprus have been very busy in the past months. The hotel hosted a conference about waste management in the hospitality sector in Cyprus organised by the University of Nicosia and the Travel Foundation. Then, there was a Galata village/Troodos mountain clean-up event,  followed by planting of succulent plants instead of seasonal flowers in the hotel's gardens. This represents a more responsible selection of plants, as this require much less water and do not aggravate the water deficit problem faced by the island. Both events were meant to commemorate the United Nations World Environment Day. A week later, the team participated in the beach cleaning event at Larnaka, which was organised in cooperation with CYMEPA (Cyprus Marine Environmental Protection Association).

A special conference was organised at Hilton Valencia to mark the United Nations World Environment Day. The goals of the seminar were to increase the environmental and social awareness of the team members and the local community as well as to encourage more cooperation and combined activities. Presentations focussed on the issue of global warming, climate change and its implications for the global as well as local environment.

Invited speakers included the representatives from the Environment, Water, Urban Planning and Housing Regional Department, the Mixed Research Unit "UVEG-CEAM", the Geology Department of Valencia's University, the Atmosphere Protection Service, Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences, the CEV's Environment Agency. The roundtable entitled "Stakeholder's of the Climate Change" gathered representatives of several companies (IBM, Ford, Chamber of Commerce, Architects Collegiate, and the Federation of Industrial Sites of the Valencia Community). Each of them presented ideas on the role of businesses in dealing with the problem of climate change. The initiative of seminar was again well received by the audience.

To celebrate the UN World Environment Day (June 5, 2009), the Green Team at Hilton Cardiff set up an "Art Corner" build from reused, recycled and recyclable items and materials and presenting the concept of recycling as well as hotel sustainability achievements to date.

A day later the hotel was a venue for another fantastic initiative - Fete of the Earth - organised by the Cardiff City Council. There were stands outside of the hotel with presentations on how we can all live in a more sustainable way. Children from 10 local schools formed a parade that ended up in the hotel where a number of "green games" were set up (i.e. an online game to switch off the lights, or a set of plastic bottles, cans and paper to be sorted into correct bins). A total of 50 children and 30 adults attended the "green games" and learned what the hotel is doing to be more responsible and minimize its carbon footprint. 

In the spirit of the we care!, and to celebrate the winning of the Mountain Bike competition by Hilton Vienna Danube, the General Managers participating in the AEET GMs meeting had an opportunity to take city tour of Vienna by bike. A morning ride commenced at Hilton Vienna Am Stadtpark and finished at Hilton Vienna Danube, with a short stopover for energy juice drink at Hilton Vienna Plaza.

 

Already before last year's summer the hotel team fitted 134 east-, south- and west-facing rooms with Luxasolar Clear View's window foil. Measurements performed after the installation indicated an average of 9.6C temperature drop inside the rooms during the hottest and most sunny days. The projected annual savings are in the range o 200 000 kWh with equivalent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions and an estimated ROI below 3 years. However, based on experience so far, the team expects the payback time to be shorter. The remaining windows in the hotel will also be fitted with Luxasolar films.

This year again the team at Hilton Budapest adopted Cloe, a seal at the local zoo. The seal was chosen because these animals are in particular danger as a result of the human impact on the environment and the climate change. She is now the marketing mascot for the Sales Team and allows the hotel team members to talk about their pro-environmental initiatives whenever the question about the choice of the mascot is raised.

On the occasion of the Earth Day the team at the hotel has also organised a spring cleaning of the old Castle District where the hotel is located, and created a new green square behind the hotel.

Hilton Milan organised a photo contest for the team members. It was a part of a national competition with the water theme. Three photos taken by the team members were awarded by the hotel jury and the authors received attractive prizes: Vorrei una carezza by Alfredo, Giocare nell'acqua by Renato, and Caos by Monica.

All team members who participated in the contest received a green water bottle with a motto from Bruce Lee: "Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend."

Over 60 of its hotels  across Europe joined the World Wide Fund For Nature’s (WWF) Earth Hour campaign on Saturday, March 28, 2009.

WWF Earth Hour is a global campaign which hopes to eventually reach more than one billion people, asking individuals, businesses and governments to switch off their lights for just one hour on Saturday March 28 at 8:30pm. This symbolic gesture is designed to highlight the importance of action on climate change.

Speaking about Hilton’s support of Earth Hour, Simon Vincent, Area President Hilton - Europe said, “At Hilton we work hard to be committed to the heart of the communities in which we operate. Our support of Earth Hour will enable us to illustrate this in a tangible way, while simultaneously improving our efficiencies and environmental practices. Most of all Earth Hour at Hilton will allow our hotel team members to work together with our guests, to raise awareness that everyone can help to make a difference”.

Click on the link to see pictures from various hotels.

 

A set of 142 solar thermal collectors were installed on the 700m² lobby roof of Hilton Tel Aviv in early 2009. This system will heat the water in a 25000 litres tank, which will later be delivered to all showers and swimming pool.
According to the hotel Chief Engineer, the replacement of gas boiler with the solar collector set up, will reduce the fuel consumption by 6% annually.  "But saving energy is not enough" he says, "We are also thinking of the environment. This specific system will prevent the emission of 300 kg of ash and 600 kg of sulphur every year". Not to mention the avoided carbon dioxide emissions.
The hotel team is already thinking of the next step of this journey - which would be to install another 150 collectors.
Hilton Tel Aviv has joined a selection of European hotels that already had solar collectors installed: Hilton Barcelona Diagonal Mar, Hilton Madrid Airport and Hilton Vilamoura, as well as Hilton Basel which has an electric car charged by solar PV.

In March 2009 the Hilton Hotels in Vienna (Hilton Vienna, Hilton Vienna Plaza and Hilton Vienna Danube) were awarded with the Austrian Ecolabel - Umweltzeichen. On the occasion of a festive event at the city hall the hotel managers received the certificates from Mrs Ulli Sima, town councillor for environmental protection.

The Ecolabel guarantees that visitors will find environmental quality by maintaining and improving:

-ecological purchasing

-efficient and economical use of energy

-environment-friendly cleaning agents, coupled with

-thrifty use of energy, and

-careful use of our water supplies.

On November 27, 2008 Hilton Amsterdam has passed all the requirements for the Green Key eco-label as the first Hilton in Europe. The official award ceremony took place in January 2009.
The Green Key is an international eco-label for tourism accommodations. Green Key encourages hotels to act as responsible businesses and make such choices so as to constantly contribute to the protection of the environment and the sustainability of natural resources. The criteria cover three main areas: environmental management, communication and training and technical criteria on efficiency in energy and water consumption, waste separation, use of environmentally -friendly chemicals etc.

One of the motivating factors to apply for this particular award was the mutual agreement between the city of Amsterdam and all the hotels within the city borders aiming to have all the properties eco-labeled within 2 years.
The second factor was the fact that Hilton Amsterdam was already well advanced in fulfilling the award requirements thanks to the we care! programme in place at the hotel. The cooperation of all departments allowed the team to complete the documentation and comply with the remaining requirements in just a few months. The auditor evaluating the hotel performance  was very impressed with all the action plans in place and involvement from all team members in the we care! program.

 This award further demonstrates the commitment of the team of Hilton Amsterdam to protecting the environment.