| Back to News page | October 26, 2000
HILTON TOKYO BAY BECOMES FIRST ECOTEL® CERTIFIED HOTEL TO ASCEND TO FIVE-GLOBE STATUS Christopher J. Balfe, President of the ECOTEL® Certification program, announced that the Hilton Tokyo Bay passed a re-certification inspection and became the first hotel ever to ascend to five-globe status within the ECOTEL® Collection. Previously, the Hilton was the first ECOTEL® certified hotel in Japan (in April 1998) to receive three-globe awards from the ECOTEL® inspectors. While four other hotels in the ECOTEL® collection currently carry all five-globe awards, the Hilton stands out as the only member that has been able to improve its environmental program from a less-than-five-globe status to this highest level of certification. "The other five-globe certified hotels were all built that way," says James Falbey, Chief Engineer - Hilton Japan and Director of Engineering - Hilton Tokyo Bay. "At the Hilton Tokyo Bay, we had to work step by step to make the changes required while operating the hotel. We did not have the luxury of starting from scratch." The ECOTEL® Certification, managed by HVS Eco Services, is widely regarded as the hospitality industry's most challenging certification. The criteria and inspection system was designed by a team that included experts from the world-renowned environmental think-tank, the Rocky Mountain Institute, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and hospitality and engineering experts. The certification recognizes only those hotels leading the industry in environmental excellence, and the criteria are updated every two years to keep current with evolving environmental trends in hospitality. Thus members of the collection must be re-inspected once every two years to retain their certified status. Prior to attaining its five-globe status, the 743-room Hilton Tokyo Bay underwent a detailed inspection of its facilities over a three-day period, including an inspection and analysis of the hotel's energy and water consumption and conservation programs. Additionally, inspectors randomly stopped employees performing their duties and polled them to determine if they had recently attended the required environmental education sessions conducted by the hotel's Training Manager Mark Thomas. "Hilton's environmental education program is one of the most impressive elements of the ecological effort," says Thomas. "We introduce the program to new employees at orientation. Staff members are then required to attend updates of this program on an annual basis to ensure that they have a thorough understanding of important and relevant environmental issues. This strategy has encouraged employees to offer suggestions for improving the hotel's programs." "For example," he continues, "the bell staff grew concerned that engines of tour buses were left running while unoccupied, oftentimes for hours, under the porte cochere. They unanimously decided to ask the bus drivers to turn their engines off. After learning that the request was part of the hotel's environmental effort, the drivers all complied." The Hilton Tokyo Bay's ecological efforts have yielded tremendous cost savings as well. Owing to Chief Steward Kazuhiko Shintani and his staff, the hotel's recycling program, one of the hotel's first environmental initiatives, has resulted in a savings of over 25 Million Yen (U.S. $250,000), despite an 8% increase in disposal costs. "In our district, waste disposal costs are high," explains Shintani, " and so this savings means a lot to the hotel's balance sheet." The Hilton Tokyo Bay's recycling program involves separating wastes into 15 categories throughout the operation. HVS International was created in 1980 to satisfy the growing demand for reliable and well-documented hotel market studies and feasibility reports. With eleven offices worldwide, HVS offers a vast range of services including valuations, strategic analyses, development planning, litigation support, executive search, waste management, gaming and restaurant consulting, asset management, operational and management strategy development, and timeshare consulting services. Leora Lanz, 516-248-8828 x278, llanz@hvsinternational.com To learn more about HVS Eco Services or the ECOTEL® Certification
Program, contact Ms. Harinakshi Nair, |
