DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - Hilton today unveiled the results of its Green Ramadan campaign. A global first for Hilton in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar, the collaboration combined Hilton’s Travel with Purpose strategy and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) West Asia’s ‘Recipe of Change’ Sustainable Ramadan campaign with Winnow’s artificial intelligence technology, allowing for digitally led tracking of waste from production to plate.
To measure, manage, and mitigate food waste across key markets in the Middle East, the Green Ramadan initiative was implemented in three of Hilton’s hotels: Waldorf Astoria Lusail Doha, Conrad Dubai, and Hilton Riyadh Hotel & Residences. The first week of the campaign served to create a data baseline, after which additional behavioural interventions were incorporated into the buffet and dining areas – including visual prompts and key messages from UNEP West Asia’s ‘Recipe of Change’ Sustainable Ramadan initiative.
Each participating hotel aimed to close the loop across the food value chain by focusing on composting, local sourcing, sustainable gastronomy, and food donations, among others. The hotels also adopted carbon emission labelling across its buffet stations, which encouraged diners to make climate-conscious food choices. By offering smaller portions, live cooking stations, and artfully reduced food displays, the campaign – which served 27,000 guests – was able to break through the food waste awareness barriers with an educational and interactive approach.
Hilton’s pioneering initiative proved effective, seeing a 61% reduction – equating to serving over 8,600 meals, and preventing almost 4.8 tonnes of waste and over 14 tonnes of CO2 emissions.
Commenting on the success of the campaign, Emma Banks, vice president, F&B strategy & development, EMEA, said, “The impact of Green Ramadan is a testament to the hospitality sector’s influence over global food waste reduction efforts. The results are underpinned by hard data and real-world behavioural science, serving as a foundation from which we can continue to tackle the challenges of food waste. The campaign has shown great potential in becoming a long-term solution in the region, with the participating hotels already making operational changes to the ways in which food is served in their dining areas."
“Moving forward, Hilton will continue collaborating with UNEP West Asia and Winnow to release white paper resources and remains committed to driving its Travel with Purpose strategy. There is no denying it – the future of hospitality is sustainability,” said Banks.
Hilton plans to roll out the Green Ramadan initiative across all its EMEA hotels in 2024. For more information, view the Green Ramadan Impact fact sheet here and watch the Green Ramadan Impact video below.
Find out more about Hilton’s Travel with Purpose commitment on Stories From Hilton.
About Hilton
Hilton (NYSE: HLT) is a leading global hospitality company with a portfolio of 24 world-class brands comprising more than 8,300 properties and over 1.25 million rooms, in 138 countries and territories. Dedicated to fulfilling its founding vision to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality, Hilton has welcomed over 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, was named the No.1 World's Best Workplace by Great Place to Work and Fortune and has been recognized as a global leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for seven consecutive years. Hilton has introduced industry-leading technology enhancements to improve the guest experience, including Digital Key Share, automated complimentary room upgrades and the ability to book confirmed connecting rooms. Through the award-winning guest loyalty program Hilton Honors, the more than 200 million Hilton Honors members who book directly with Hilton can earn Points for hotel stays and experiences money can't buy. With the free Hilton Honors app, guests can book their stay, select their room, check in, unlock their door with a Digital Key and check out, all from their smartphone. Visit stories.hilton.com for more information, and connect with Hilton on Facebook, X, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.
About Travel with Purpose
Travel with Purpose is Hilton’s Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) strategy to advance responsible travel and tourism globally. Through Travel with Purpose, we seek to create positive environmental and social impact across our operations, supply chain and communities. We track, analyze and report the impact of Hilton’s portfolio of hotels through LightStay, our award-winning ESG performance measurement and management system. Travel with Purpose capitalizes on Hilton’s global scale to serve as an engine of opportunity in the communities where we operate and pave the way to a more sustainable future for the hospitality industry. Our strategy aligns with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more about Travel with Purpose at https://esg.hilton.com/.
About the UN Environment Programme (UNEP)
UNEP is the leading global voice on the environment. It provides leadership and encourages partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
About Winnow
Winnow builds artificial intelligence tools to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens by cutting food waste in half. Launched in a single staff restaurant in 2013, Winnow has now been adopted by more than 2,000 sites globally, operating in over 70 countries with offices in Chicago, London, Dubai, Singapore, and Cluj-Napoca. Collectively, Winnow users are saving 36m meals a year from being wasted.