Dear Team Member,

At the end of 24 months of hard work and hopefully some fun, the regional energy champions for 2007 have been decided.

Across Europe, we have recognised five hotels for their exceptional we care! energy performances in 2007. The winners this year are:  

  • Hilton Milan has been crowned winner of Iberian Peninsula & Italy.
  • Hilton Izmir has taken the top spot in Eastern Europe & Turkey.
  • Hilton Amsterdam Schiphol Airport topped the Benelux, Israel & Nordic group.
  • Hilton Zurich has retained its crown in Austria, Germany & Switzerland.
  • Hilton Paris Charles De Gaulle has also won for the second year running in France & Eastern Mediterranean.

 As the best performing properties for improving energy efficiency and waste reduction over the past year, over 1000 team members at these hotels will now each receive an energy efficient mountain bike. A fantastic effort, and I hope you enjoy your new bikes.  I would also like to send my warmest thanks to all other team members for their extraordinary efforts. I am extremely proud of you all.

 I can reveal that last year we delivered energy savings of over 10% across our hotels in Europe (based on a cumulative total achieved between 2006 & 2007 versus 2005).  This is a staggering achievement.  Water consumption also fell by an impressive 5% over the year, the equivalent to nearly 75 Olympic sized swimming pools.  

We have now set our new challenges for 2008.

to reduce energy by 15% (measured cumulatively over 2006, 2007 and 2008 and compared to 2005 levels)
to reduce water consumption  by 10%                         cumulatively
to identify, quantify and reduce the chemical                 products used within our hotels                                   

The latest results show that we are on course to achieve our 2009 target of reducing consumption by 15%, highlighting our continued commitment to reducing the impact of our hotels on the environment in the countries which they operate. This has only been made possible through your tremendous efforts and your commitment to helping to make a difference. 

Moving forward, our environmental policy will be firmly targeted at continuing to improve water and energy efficiency, as well as introducing further commitments towards reduction in chemical consumption, waste reduction and the use of eco-friendly materials. You should now have received your new Green Boxes which have been designed to help you continue your activities and initiatives over the coming 12-months. These materials and video clips have been developed to help you introduce practices and ideas to help your hotels become more energy efficient.  I urge you set up team forums and encourage team members to follow the two new eco-learning courses. 

In just two years we are seeing some very real and tangible results across Europe. We made a commitment in January 2006 to think green, take action and responsibility to switch to more environmentally sustainable methods of working - today’s results speak for themselves!

It is already over one year since we launched the we care! programme and it is superb to see what has happened since then. Most importantly we have managed to reduce energy consumption by 6.7% so far in the whole region - brilliant!

ENERGY CHAMPIONS

Hilton Zurich Airport & Apart Hotel operated by Hilton cut energy consumption by 4% and take the Hilton we care! Energy Champion Crown in Germany & Switzerland.

Click here to find out more...
Check back soon to read new case studies from the 2007 Mountain Bike Winners
In 2008 we will again continue our competition and award team members in the top-performing hotel in each region (based on the 2008 restructure) a  prize.

 Each hotel will be judged on its energy and water performance compared to their individual 2008 targets, and as per last year, the winning hotel must clearly show that we care! programme was implemented throughout the hotel and fully adopted by all.

A word of caution - any hotel that fails to maintain the energy reductions achieved in 2007 will be disqualified from the competition.

So why the cumulative assessment over three years?
Basically, we feel this is a fairer way to give those hotels that made outstanding savings in previous years, but missed out on the top spot, a chance for the top prize.

How will we decide the winners?

The Hilton Environmental Reporting (HER) system will continue to be our measuring tool. The system has been updated and the reports modified to help each hotel track its performance in a more effective manner. You will also notice that we have included a CO2 indicator.

Take your time to familiarize yourself with this method of assessing energy use as it is being adopted by all major players in the field of sustainability and by 2009 we will be measuring Hilton's impact on the environment in terms of emissions - kg and tones of CO2 used - and not kWh.

Let us continue to show the world that we care!.

Wolfgang
Area President - Hilton Europe