Hilton Worldwide has introduced a new meeting concept that enables planners to reduce waste at meetings and events while giving delegates access to healthier F&B options.
Meetings with Purpose is designed not only to widen the sustainable and healthy event options for planners, but also help with the demand for corporate social responsibility.
The concept was inspired by Hilton’s CSR strategy, Travel with Purpose, and feedback from clients and sales force members who identified the most pressing sustainability issues for meetings and events.
As a result, Meetings with Purpose focuses on two areas:
- Mindful Eating, which encourages meeting professionals to reexamine event dining to minimise food waste and encourage healthy choices. Hilton offers solutions such as portion control, sourcing locally, pre-plating salads and establishing central water stations with reusable containers.
- Mindful Meeting, which inspires meeting professionals to host more sustainable events by considering less resource-intensive practices. Solutions range from using paperless registration and placing notepads in a central location to turning off climate control when a meeting room is not in use.
Meetings with Purpose has already been used at Hilton properties in the United States where substantial recycling and energy reduction measures used at events, particularly at Hilton San Francisco Union Square and Hilton Chicago.
“Today’s meeting attendees seek greater meaning in their event experiences and expect event planners to consider the broader implications of the meeting itself,” says Lesley Brasesco, Hilton Worldwide’s managing director of sales effectiveness for the Americas.
