In conjunction with the release of its 2013-2014 Corporate
Responsibility Report, Hyatt
Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) unveiled today an aggressive set of
environmental goals for the year 2020, all designed to strengthen
Hyatt’s collective ability to collaborate, inspire and further its
commitment to environmental stewardship. Hyatt, which is already an
industry leader for tracking comprehensive global energy and water data
since 2006, is significantly expanding the scope of its existing
sustainability initiatives and will continue to focus strongly on
measuring and reporting progress.
Known as the Hyatt 2020 Vision, these new, ambitious environmental goals
define a suite of measureable and actionable targets across three focus
areas – use resources thoughtfully, build smart, and innovate and
inspire – all with the goal of bringing together Hyatt hotels around the
globe to create a more sustainable future.
“The conservation efforts undertaken by Hyatt hotels around the world
since formalizing our approach several years ago have had a real impact,
resulting in major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and water and
energy usage by property across our portfolio,” said Brigitta Witt, Vice
President of Corporate Responsibility for Hyatt. “With five years and
significant momentum under our belt, we saw the opportunity to further
our commitment to environmental stewardship in a manner that
fundamentally touches every aspect of our business, from the way our
hotels are built and operated, to the way we collaborate with our global
supply chain, to the way we influence change through the passion and
commitment of our colleagues around the world.”
Setting Focus Areas
Born from robust analysis and research, the Hyatt 2020 Vision focuses on
significantly expanding Hyatt’s strategic scope, especially in areas
where past efforts have not had as much of an impact due to occupancy
fluctuations and rapid business growth in developing markets.
With this in mind, the Hyatt 2020 Vision focuses on three strategic
priorities, which were specifically selected not only for their ability
to help guide Hyatt’s environmental performance, but also for their
ability to touch every Hyatt colleague and community around the globe.
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Use Resources Thoughtfully: Hyatt is committed to examining how
its hotels source, consume and manage natural resources to serve their
guests. Hyatt will identify ways for Hyatt hotels to reduce energy
consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, use less water, produce less
waste and make more environmentally responsible purchasing decisions.
As a highlight, Hyatt has set the goal to reduce water use per guest
night by 25 percent, and within water-stressed areas, Hyatt has set a
30 percent reduction goal. Additionally, Hyatt is elevating its
recycling efforts by challenging every hotel to reach a 40 percent
diversion rate, as well as by setting a recycling goal for renovation
waste.
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Build Smart: Hyatt will work closely with stakeholders to
increase the focus on building more efficient, environmentally
conscious hotels across the enterprise. Beginning in 2015, all new
construction and major renovation projects contracted for Hyatt
managed hotels will be expected to follow enhanced sustainable design
guidelines. Hyatt will lead this initiative by mandating that all new
construction and major renovation projects for wholly owned full
service hotels and resorts achieve LEED certification, or an
equivalent certification.
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Innovate and Inspire: This goal reflects Hyatt’s commitment to
be a catalyst for bringing more hearts, hands and minds to the table
to help advance environmental sustainability around the world. This
includes Hyatt’s commitment to create a funding mechanism to support
the innovation, ideation and acceleration of sustainable solutions
within its hotels that can be replicated across the Hyatt portfolio,
as well as the broader hospitality industry.
Reporting Progress
Hyatt’s 2020 goals are being debuted in conjunction with the launch of
Hyatt’s 2013-2014 Corporate Responsibility Report, which provides a
snapshot of the company’s most recent corporate responsibility efforts
and achievements.
Major milestones reported include:
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The launch of Ready
to Thrive, Hyatt’s global corporate philanthropy program
focused on literacy and career readiness, which included a $750,000
investment in career readiness programs in Brazil.
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Building 11 libraries and supporting reading and writing programs in
30 schools through a new partnership with Room
to Read, impacting 30,000 students in India.
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Donating 35,000 books to kids in need across the globe through We
Give Books and Room to Read.
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Donating more than 100,000 volunteer hours in 2013 – a 69 percent
increase from 2012.
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More than 80 percent of Hyatt hotels recycling at least one or more
waste streams.
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A reduction in resource use intensity in each of Hyatt’s three regions
compared to 2006 – up to a 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions, up to a 13 percent reduction in energy and up to a 15
percent reduction in water. 1
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Development of responsible seafood sourcing goals based on a global
purchasing audit in partnership with World
Wildlife Fund.
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Required more than 40,000 of its global associates -- including
housekeepers, front office, concierge, guest services, key service and
security personnel, and all management-level colleagues -- to complete
Human Trafficking Prevention Training. Hyatt also implemented a
standard for all of its hotels to have training measures in place.
For more information on Hyatt Thrive and the new Hyatt 2020 vision,
click here.
To view the 2013-2014 Corporate Responsibility Report, please click here.
The term “Hyatt” is used in this release for convenience to refer to
Hyatt Hotels Corporation and/or one or more of its affiliates.
About Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global
hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more
than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a
difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by
providing authentic hospitality. The Company's subsidiaries manage,
franchise, own and develop hotels and resorts under the Hyatt®,
Park Hyatt®, Andaz®, Grand Hyatt®, Hyatt Regency®, Hyatt Place®, Hyatt
House®, Hyatt ZilaraTM, and Hyatt
ZivaTM brand names and have locations on six
continents. Hyatt Residential Group, Inc., a Hyatt
Hotels Corporation subsidiary, develops, operates, markets or
licenses Hyatt Residences® and Hyatt Residence Club®.
As of June 30, 2014, the Company's worldwide portfolio consisted of 563
properties in 48 countries. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Forward-Looking Statements in this press release, which are not
historical facts, are forward-looking statements within the meaning of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Our actual
results, performance or achievements may differ materially from those
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forward-looking statements are necessarily based upon estimates and
assumptions that, while considered reasonable by us and our management,
are inherently uncertain. Factors that may cause actual results to
differ materially from current expectations include, among others, the
rate and pace of economic recovery following economic downturns; levels
of spending in business and leisure segments as well as consumer
confidence; declines in occupancy and average daily rate; if our
third-party owners, franchisees or development partners are unable to
access the capital necessary to fund current operations or implement our
plans for growth; changes in the competitive environment in our industry
and the markets where we operate; our ability to access the capital
markets; and other risks discussed in the Company's filings with the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on
Form 10-K, which filings are available from the SEC. We caution you not
to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are
made as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to
update publicly any of these forward-looking statements to reflect
actual results, new information or future events, changes in assumptions
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make additional updates with respect to those or other forward-looking
statements.
1 Data reflects full-service owned and managed hotels.
These reductions are the result of ongoing efforts to make our
operations more efficient through measures that include, among other
things, water and energy efficient equipment and upgrades, diligent
management of resource consumption as well as, in some instances,
shifting certain operations, such as laundry, to outside vendors..
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