At Hilton, we know that the new year will kick off an exciting array of conference and event schedules. From corporate trainings to brainstorming sessions intended to spark the curiosity of eager professionals, our main priority is to help enable and foster strong and meaningful connections and make these experiences memorable and impactful.
The three trends that we anticipate becoming increasingly important among our customers over the next year include a high priority on environmental impact, an emphasis on our evergreen approach to the personalized booking experience and a continued focus on mindfulness.
Environmental Impact
Hilton has forged ways to help meetings and events professionals stay on the cutting edge of sustainability and be mindful of their environmental footprint by implementing programs and platforms that help to mitigate these challenges.
Hilton is committed to redefining responsible travel and tourism through our Travel with Purpose program. In 2018, we set ambitious new goals to cut our environmental footprint in half and double our investment in social impact by 2030.
We track our Travel with Purpose performance through LightStay, our award-winning platform that enables us to manage our environmental and social impact across our entire global portfolio of nearly 6,000 managed and franchised hotels. LightStay allows our hotels to understand their environmental footprint and social impacts in detail and identify opportunities to improve performance. Our hotels can also use this platform to create reports that capture this type of data from conferences and events for meeting professionals.
Our properties are demonstrating the positive results that can be achieved through careful management using LightStay. For instance, New York Hilton Midtown has a rooftop cogeneration plant, which produces a combination of electric and steam energy. As a result, the hotel has reduced its carbon footprint by 30% annually. In addition, the property hosts a 16,000-square-foot-green roof, which includes six, hive-to-table beehives where more than 500,000 bees produce approximately 300 pounds of honey per year.
Booking Experience
In 2020, we anticipate meetings and events professionals will continue to value personalization when booking and finding venues.
With a global portfolio of nearly 6,000 managed and franchised hotels, we’re able to provide our customers with Hilton-specific solutions that match their needs. Our sales team focuses on developing and strengthening connections with customers so that it’s intuitive to identify what they need in order to provide the best experience to conference and event attendees.
Mindfulness
Mindfulness has proven to be more than a fleeting trend. In 2020, Hilton is doubling down on our commitment to help busy professionals find a moment to catch their breath.
Conference and event attendees need to be energized and focused to make the most out of their meetings and events experiences. Hilton introduced its Meet with Purpose program to address this exact need in 2015. In 2020, we’ll continue to commit to offering opportunities for holistic wellness, such as our Sole Mates and Yoga & Yogurt activations.
Sole Mates is a retail-style experience where attendees participate in a get-one-give-one sock activity. The experience is hosted with a local charity and gives attendees the chance to choose a pair of socks for themselves and another pair that they can customize and gift to someone in need.
Yoga & Yogurt is a relaxing and reenergizing way to start an event-filled day with an instructor-led yoga class, followed by a chance to build your own yogurt parfait while taking some time to unwind and connect with other meeting attendees.
2020 & Beyond
Hilton has enjoyed a century of catering to our customers and partnering to create first-class meetings and events. The new year will provide a new opportunity to build upon the work we’ve been doing with a renewed focus on important trends that will shape meetings and events for years to come.
