Through another year of change and challenges, what united our Hilton family was our shared purpose – to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality
From the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we knew that staying true to Hilton’s founding vision – to fill the earth with the light and warmth of hospitality – would be critical to sustaining our business and the people and communities we serve. Throughout a year filled with uncertainty and upheaval, I’ve been so inspired by our Team Members who rose to the challenge, proving our hospitality is an unstoppable force for good all around the world.
Despite the pandemic’s unprecedented impact on the global hospitality industry, Hilton remained fully committed to our Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals and our teams worked tirelessly to be part of the solution to this global crisis. With the support of our Owners, Team Members and partners around the world, we focused on helping those on the front lines of the pandemic – from making one million room nights available to medical professionals, to supporting relief organizations with emergency funding, to donating food and other essential supplies to our local communities. We activated our Team Member Assistance Fund to offer direct support to those in need, and distributed more than a million dollars from the Hilton Global Foundation, providing recovery funding to severely impacted communities and constituencies. In the face of social unrest around the world – particularly in the United States – we strengthened our commitments to diverse leadership in our hotels and corporate offices, as well as our partnerships with racial justice organizations fighting for a more just and equitable society.
Through it all, our Team Members were the heart of these efforts, spreading hospitality to our guests in communities across the globe, and offering gestures of hope that were all the more meaningful in such a turbulent year. Thanks to their grit, hard work and resilience, we continued to make a difference, and we were humbled to receive recognition for our efforts, including being:
Named the 2020 Global Industry Leader on the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices for the second consecutive year;
Recognized as the #1 Best Company to Work For in the U.S. and the #3 World’s Best Workplace by Great Place to Work Institute and Fortune Magazine; and,
The only global hotel brand named to the 100 Best Corporate Citizens of 2020 list.
More than ever, the global community is relying on the private sector to lead the way in building resilience and inclusive growth in a complex world. Knowing Hilton has a unique role to play in making that growth a reality, we refreshed our materiality assessment in 2020 to ensure that our Travel with Purpose 2030 Goals are closely aligned with the most critical environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues, focusing our efforts where we can have the greatest impact.
In a year like no other, Hilton never wavered in its commitment to our people and the planet we all call home. As we look ahead, we will continue to lean into the legacy we have created, allowing us to have an even more profound and positive impact on the communities where we live, work and travel. I’m proud of all we have accomplished in 2020 and know that together, our Hilton family will continue leading the way in sustainable travel for years to come.
Christopher J. Nassetta
President and Chief Executive Officer
Our ESG Strategy
Travel with Purpose is Hilton's ESG strategy to redefine and advance sustainable travel globally. As part of this strategy, we have committed to increasing our social impact and significantly reducing our environmental impact by 2030.
Our 2030 Goals are underpinned by targets which closely align with the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). To achieve these goals, our 6,800+ hotels use LightStay, our industry-leading ESG measurement and management platform. We also leverage our numerous partners and the Hilton Global Foundation, Hilton's primary international philanthropic arm, to invest in programs and partnerships that will drive progress on our 2030 Goals. These best-in-class ESG programs, combined with the incredible work our Team Members around the world do to put Travel with Purpose into action, have made Hilton an industry leader in driving social and environmental impact.
2030 Goals
We are committed to increasing our investment in social impact and substantially reducing our environmental footprint through responsible hospitality across our value chain. These overarching commitments are underpinned by 23 sub-targets which closely align with the global Sustainable Development Goals (“SDGs”) adopted by the United Nations in 2015.
We are committed to transparent and accurate external reporting of our corporate responsibility performance. We follow recognized ESG reporting frameworks including SASB, GRI and CDP. We obtain external assurance over our environmental and social impact data.
We know it will be impossible to achieve our social and environmental goals without properly instilling ESG factors into the way we do business, whether through our company policies and reporting mechanisms, our external partnerships, or our public affairs work. We are committed to best-in-class governance practices, ensuring we operate with integrity and transparency in everything we do.
We periodically assess our material issues to ensure we are aligning our programs with the issues that matter most to our stakeholders. In 2020, we refreshed our Materiality Assessment to inform the direction of our ESG programs as we progress towards our 2030 Goals.
