Hilton has released its 2020 Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) Report, which highlights the company’s continued commitment to redefining sustainable travel and driving positive impact on people and the planet. Through Hilton’s Travel with Purpose program, the company continues to take important steps to integrate positive social impact and environmental stewardship throughout its operations, communities and supply chain.
“As we weathered this unpredictable year, Hilton has remained focused on our Team Members and the communities we serve around the world,” said Kristin Campbell, general counsel and chief ESG officer, Hilton. “We took a nimble approach during this difficult period to deliver meaningful support, while remaining focused on our bold Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals. Now more than ever, we are committed to our leadership in environmental, social and governance so travellers can enjoy our planet for years to come.”
Hilton’s 2020 ESG Report highlights the company’s environmental and social performance during a tumultuous year. Despite the challenges of 2020, Hilton was proud to receive several significant ESG honors in 2020, including:
- Named the 2020 Global Industry Leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices, the most prestigious ranking for corporate responsibility and sustainability performance, for the second consecutive year;
- Recognised just last week as one of the Best Companies to Work For in the U.S. by Great Place to Work and Fortune for the sixth consecutive year, including earning the #1 spot in 2020 and #3 in 2021 – as well as being ranked the #3 World’s Best Workplace and achieving a #1 ranking in seven countries around the world in 2020;
- Ranked #2 on DiversityInc’s Top 50 Companies for Diversity list; and
- Named to the 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2020 list, the only global hotel brand recognised.
An Unprecedented Year for Social Impact
The importance of engaging local communities, supporting Team Members, and promoting a culture of inclusion took on new meaning and urgency in 2020. Hilton took action to support its Team Members and its communities:
- Partnered with American Express and hotel owners to donate up to one million hotel room nights for U.S. frontline medical professionals leading the fight against COVID-19 and teamed up with World Central Kitchen to provide meals for many of these heroes staying in Hilton’s hotels.
- Distributed approximately $500,000 to Team Members who contracted the COVID-19 virus to help cover related expenses, including child or elder care.
- Acted quickly to ensure the safety and wellbeing of Team Members around the world by introducing Hilton CleanStayTM, an industry-defining standard of cleanliness and disinfection in collaboration with Reckitt, maker of Lysol and Dettol.
- Awarded 23 grants through the Hilton Effect Foundation to support organisations helping vulnerable communities recover from COVID-19. In total, the Foundation invested more than $1 million in COVID-19 community response during 2020.
- Remained committed to doubling the company’s social impact by 2030. Despite the challenges the hospitality industry faced in 2020, Hilton realized many achievements including contributing 185,000 volunteer hours and creating new ways for Team Members to volunteer virtually. Hilton also continued to drive inclusive growth through the company’s award-winning Supplier Diversity Program.
- Focused on building a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace for its Team Members and guests. Hilton received a rating of 100% on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality index for the seventh year in a row and is committed to achieving global gender parity and 25% U.S. ethnic representation at corporate leadership levels by the end of 2027.
- Partnered with the NAACP’s Empowerment Program to advance equal rights and awarded grants to nonprofits that are at the front lines of the fight for racial justice, including the NAACP and National Urban League.
- Launched an internal Courageous Conversation virtual learning series that tackled critical topics including systemic racism, privilege, allyship and women leaving the workplace.
- Set new industry standards by contributing to the World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC’s) new high-level guidelines for diversity and inclusion in the travel and tourism sector.
Continued Focus on Sustainability
Hilton operates in some of the most beautiful destinations around the world and recognises its critical responsibility to protect the planet so that it remains healthy and vibrant for future generations. This year, Hilton achieved the following:
- Remained fully committed to halving its environmental impact and took immediate action to train hotel teams to adopt techniques to conserve resources in times of low occupancy.
- Took steps to increase sourcing of renewable energy at hotels around the world, in line with the company’s science-based targets. In 2020, the majority of Hilton managed hotels in the U.K. began procuring 100 percent renewable electricity.
- Undertook a thorough ESG materiality assessment to ensure the company’s Travel with Purpose programs remained aligned with the issues that matter most to Hilton’s business and stakeholders.
- Continued to enhance Hilton’s award-winning LightStay program, which all of Hilton’s 6,400+ hotels use to measure and manage their environmental and social impact.
- Established waste reduction standards for the Hilton EventReady with CleanStay meetings and events program.
- Collaborated with its hotel ownership community to continue to identify innovative and meaningful ways to adapt to the changing needs of its guests, Team Members and communities.
Impact in Australasia
Hilton operates 28 hotels across Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and the South Pacific. Despite the many limitations brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, Hilton’s Team Members in Australasia achieved over 2,500 hours of volunteer work across more than 200 volunteer events and donation activities to positively impact local communities in 2020. Other highlights include:
- Hilton hotels in Australasia collectively recycled more than 1.5 tonnes of used soap through their partnership with Soap Aid, stopping 1.8 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent from entering the atmosphere and creating nearly 16,000 new soap bars for communities in need.
- Hilton Brisbane, a multi-year award winner of Queensland Hotel Association’s Outstanding Community Service Achievement Award and Best Environmental Practice Award, has continued to expand its well-established sustainability programs. These range from recycling oral care items and other single-use plastics through TerraCycle, single-use coffee cups through Closed Loop and single-use containers through Envirobank. Their container recycling with Envirobank is part of the Queensland Government's Containers for Change program. The hotel diverts up to 10,000 items a month from landfills and funds environmental and social justice projects with the funds generated.
- Hilton Lake Taupo has implemented a number of plastic reduction initiatives including replacing plastic bottles with glass in its food and beverage outlets, serving filtered water in glass bottles throughout its restaurants and events facilities, switching to reusable plastic containers for kitchen storage, and discontinuing the use of plastic dry cleaning wrappers for guest clothing. Additionally, all bathroom amenities are recycled with Beyond Skin Deep.
- Hilton Queenstown Team Members worked to protect local native vegetation through wild pining and planting trees and saplings. In 2020, the team planted more than 3,000 trees in the local area. They also volunteer with, and support in kind, the Wakatipu Reforestation Trust, who have an Educate for Nature program to encourage environmental stewardship in the local community.
Hilton’s 2020 ESG Report was prepared in accordance with the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) Standards and integrates the recommendations of the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) and the Taskforce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD). In addition to the ESG Report and website, Hilton externally reports on its Travel with Purpose strategy, programs and progress towards its 2030 Goals in the company’s Form 10-K, Annual Report and Proxy Statement.
