PHOTO: Hyatt colleagues volunteer in the community to create a better planet. (Courtesy Hyatt Hotels Corporation)
Hyatt Hotels Corporation unveiled its environmental goals for the year 2020 last week, furthering a commitment to environmental stewardship that the company launched in 2006.
The new environmental strategy will focus on three key areas: use resources thoughtfully, build smart, and innovate and inspire.
While some hospitality companies have yet to catch on, Hyatt continues to place a strong emphasis on reducing energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, water consumption and waste, while also trying to make more environmentally responsible purchasing decisions and building its hotels right the first time.
So, why did Hyatt-a large company that doesn't have to do this to be recognized-not only become one of the pioneers of hospitality environmental stewardship, but also strive to further its commitment to the environment?
"One, it's absolutely the right thing to do," said Brigitta Witt, vice president of corporate responsibility for Hyatt.
Witt continued: "Resources are absolutely essential to running our hotels. For us, it was very important that we were thoughtful in our approach to how to utilize those resources-minimizing our consumption, reducing our waste, while still making sure we are able to maintain the standards our guests have come to expect from us, and also maintaining our colleagues' level of comfort when working in our hotels."
"Also, there's certainly a strong and compelling business reason," she added. "We know the cost of energy, the cost of water, the cost of waste removal is only going to increase. So we're very focused on making sure we can not only manage our impact, but also manage our costs."
By 2020, Hyatt aims to reduce water use per guest night by 25 percent, and by 30 percent in water-stressed areas. On top of that, Hyatt is challenging each of its properties across the globe to reach a 40 percent diversion rate by 2020.
But it's not just about reducing and conserving resources. It's also important to build smart, Witt noted.
[BLURB]"We have a tremendous opportunity to build more efficient, environmentally conscious hotels from the very start. It's much easier to get it right from the beginning than trying to retrofit a building after it's already built." - Brigitta Witt, vice president of corporate responsibility for Hyatt[/BLURB]
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"For us, 'build smart' is really about building the right foundation," she said. "We have a tremendous opportunity to build more efficient, environmentally conscious hotels from the very start. It's much easier to get it right from the beginning than trying to retrofit a building after it's already built. It's a way for us to look at everything we're doing with fresh eyes."
Starting in 2015, Hyatt will mandate that all new construction and major renovation projects for wholly owned full service hotels and resorts achieve LEED certification, or an equivalent certification.
Last but not least, Hyatt would not be where it's at without innovating and inspiring. To date, Hyatt has "green teams" in 90 percent of its worldwide properties. Witt said Hyatt has had a 70 percent increase in volunteers year over year since launching Hyatt Thrive, Hyatt's corporate responsibility platform, in 2011. The company donated more than 100,000 volunteer hours in 2013.
"There are so many great ideas that we can apply to try to address these issues that we're trying to tackle every day that come from our colleagues, that come from our suppliers, that come from other people in other industries," Witt said. "The idea is to really think about how can we leverage this idea of collaboration to come up with solutions to some of these bigger problems."
As part of its commitment to innovate, Hyatt has embraced technology, using data to do anything from monitoring its hotels' energy use and water consumption to identifying water pipes that are broken underground.
Hyatt has already reached several major milestones, reported in Hyatt's 2013-2014 Corporate Responsibility Report, including: reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent worldwide, reducing energy use by 13 percent and reducing water usage by 15 percent since 2006.
Hyatt also recently launched Ready to Thrive, Hyatt's global corporate philanthropy program focused on literacy and career readiness (including a $750,000 investment in career readiness programs in Brazil); built 11 libraries and supported reading and writing programs in 30 schools through a new partnership with Room to Read (impacting 30,000 students in India); and donated 35,000 books to kids in need globally via the We Give Books and Room to Read programs.
But there's still work to be done, said Witt, who made sure to highlight the commitment of Hyatt's colleagues.
"I'm just really excited about this new chapter for Hyatt, to really see the great opportunity we have to move the needle," Witt said. "I think it's going to be hard, there are going to be challenges for sure, but I think by having an ambitious strategy we're really going to be able to drive the commitments that we've made forward."
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