Inntelligent News 2021

As we move into the recovery phase from the pandemic, subjects such as risk management, sustainability, traveller wellbeing and the future of meetings are fast becoming the main talking points. We asked both our clients and our partners for their views on these key pillars of recovery. Sustainability Q&A Hilton Hotels Many of our suppliers have an increased focus on reducing the environmental impact of a hotel stay, one of these is Hilton Hotels. Which sustainability initiatives do you have in place or are on the roadmap for implementation? Hilton have several global initiatives based around sustainability but to highlight a few; Travel With Purpose - By 2030, we are committed to double our investment in social impact and cut our environmental footprint in half through responsible hospitality across our value chain. We have committed to: •Reducing carbon emissions by 61% through science- based targets •Sending zero soap to landfill •Doubling our investment in economic opportunity programs to support e.g. women, youth, veterans, persons with disabilities, trafficking survivors etc. •Doubling our local and impact sourcing What do you feel the impact of COVID-19 has been on your sustainability objectives? If anything, we believe Covid-19 has further highlighted our sustainability objectives and made them more prominent. We have noticed that during this difficult period, companies have had more time to review and reflect on their own corporate responsibility objectives and are keen not to slip back into old ways. We hope to keep working with our customers to achieve our sustainability objectives together. In your opinion, which innovation will have the biggest impact on achieving sustainable business travel and meetings? From a Hilton standpoint, our ever-evolving Light Stay innovation will have a big impact for our customers. The fact that we can quantify and present customers with figures about their stay can really help educate them on what environmental impact they are having and what they need to do to carbon offset their meetings. From a general point of view, we hope to see less of single-use products across the industry. It started with eliminating plastic straws from our properties and this has opened the door to how we look at things moving forward. In addition to this, locally sourced food produce and plant based items will grow in popularity. Biffa Waste Management Sustainable meetings and travel has made it to the top of the agenda for many of our clients in the last year. For one of our clients, Biffa Waste Management, sustainability is at the forefront of everything they do so who better to ask about their green objectives! Which sustainability initiatives do you have in place or are on the roadmap for implementation? We will encourage our employees to avoid unnecessary journeys and to reduce their vehicle use, promote the use of public transport and include hybrid vehicles in our company car proposition. When it is safe to do so, we will also encourage car sharing between employees. Biffa is exceptionally transparent about their sustainability goals as a company, what impact does this have on your travel and meetings policy? We have amended our travel policy to only allow domestic flights if the journey is over 6 hours by train. In addition to this, we have also included guidance with regards to electric and hybrid cars for car hire and encourage our travelers to choose green accredited hotels with charging points for electric cars. Within our meetings policy, we encourage virtual or hybrid meetings unless a face to face meeting is a necessity. How would you recommend engaging travelers and bookers in a sustainable travel and meetings programme? We actively engage with our booker and traveler community to support them with behavioural changes. We do this with the support from Inntel through training, engagement sessions and newsletters. Change requires commitment, it is important that our employees support our sustainability objectives. Business travel and meetings are key to any business, how do you balance this requirement with your sustainability objectives? Our strategy is to be resourceful and responsible, we encourage our employees to ask the question: Is it business critical to travel? If it is, how can you make sure your travel is sustainable? In partnership with Inntel, we offer solutions such as rail versus air, electric cars versus traditional fuel options and hybrid meeting solutions. In your opinion, which innovation will have the biggest impact on achieving sustainable business travel and meetings? We can achieve this by reducing the frequency of travel but increase the efficiency. People will undertake fewer trips but perhaps extend them to increase the ROI on each trip. Measuring carbon emission is a good start but using this information to apply to offsetting solutions is even more important. INNTELLIGENT NEWS - ISSUE 17 PAGE SEVENTEEN