Hilton London Heathrow Airport is showcasing a whole raft of new environmental initiatives to coincide with Earth Day.
Marked annually on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection, Earth Day is observed by approximately one billion people across 193 countries.
And, in keeping with this year’s theme; Invest in Our Planet, Hilton London Heathrow Airport has revealed the results of its ongoing commitment to the environment.
The award-winning hotel, at Heathrow Airport’s Terminal 4, has introduced measures to cut down waste and reduce water and energy usage in line with Hilton’s Travel with Purpose environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy to drive responsible travel and tourism globally.
The hotel now operates completely on low energy LED lighting. A Room Energy Management system has been installed in all guest rooms to conserve energy by automatically turning off lights when nobody is in the room and setting the temperature to an ambient level.
A state-of-the-art building management system maximizes the use of the air that is heated and cooled around the hotel – recirculating it to ensure there is no wastage in unoccupied areas and using less energy to heat or cool large areas such as the atrium.
The hotel has also introduced measures that make it easy for guests to reduce their environmental impact – sometimes without them even realizing it.
Discarded half empty bottles of water from guest rooms and meeting spaces are used to water the kitchen garden, whilst leftover coffee grounds are used in the garden as fertilizer.
All single use plastics have been removed from meetings and events and guest soaps are also recycled with any unused soaps donated to Clean the World, a global organization dedicated to reducing waste whilst providing access to sanitation and hygiene kits those affected by poverty, homelessness, and humanitarian or natural crises.
Part of Hilton’s Travel with Purpose strategy, Meet with Purpose is designed to elevate the meeting experience, with packages that reduce food waste, incorporate environmentally friendly solutions and help meet planners’ own ESG goals.
As part of its Meet with Purpose offering, Hilton London Heathrow Airport offers guests the opportunity to get involved in driving sustainability initiatives on property. This includes the opportunity to plant trees in the garden and hotel’s orchard, to improve local biodiversity.
As part of its efforts to improve local biodiversity, the hotel also now has four beehives which are home to 30,000 bees – whose honey is gifted to guests and clients on special occasions – and a Chef’s Garden, where herbs, vegetables and fruit are grown and used across its three OXBO dining experiences – OXBO bar, OXBO Café and OXBO Kitchen.
Fruit and vegetables trimmings are composted and returned to the garden, while chefs also work closely with suppliers to ensure that produce is sourced locally whenever possible and is sustainable.
Hilton is focused on paving the way towards a net-zero future and remains committed to partnering with its customers to help minimize carbon footprints and redefine sustainable travel – and all its key indicators show real progress towards that goal.
Oliver Stockland, area general manager, Hilton, is very proud of the measures the hotel has taken and the positive response to them.
“We are passionate about doing everything we can to reduce our environmental footprint, and are celebrating Earth Day by reinforcing this commitment,” he said. “We’re so proud of the progress we have made, but we’re not done yet. We continue to look for new ways to minimize our impact and look forward to continuing to showcase these important initiatives to our guests.”
