For the remainder of 2009, over 60,000 InterContinental employees throughout the world will participate in responsible business workshops to enhance their understanding of how they can personally be involved in some of the initiatives.

InterContinental and National Geographic will also establish a responsible business advisory board, made up of senior executives from both organizations and hotel general managers.

Geotourism gaining new ground

According to National Geographic, geotourism is “tourism that sustains or enhances the geographical character of a place — its environment, culture, aesthetics, heritage and the well-being of its residents.” The partnership between InterContinental and National Geographic will harness the passion of the hotel general managers and their teams to help sustain and enhance the geographical character of destinations where InterContinental is present.

Inspired by National Geographic’s Geotourism Code of Good Practice, the hotel company has adopted five principles as a means to enhance its ongoing environmental and cultural sustainability efforts and help identify new projects. The five principles are: ensuring efforts that focus on integrity of place, destination appeal, community involvement, sharing success stories and minimizing negative environmental and cultural impacts.

“Across all our hotels worldwide, InterContinental is committed to connecting our well-travelled guests to what’s special about a destination,” said Vanessa Healey, Vice President, Global Marketing, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts. “We have always believed that we have a responsibility to respect the nature, heritage and communities our hotels reside in, so that future generations of travellers continue to enjoy what is unique to each destination. Working with National Geographic, we hope that our associates and our guests will be personally enriched, knowing they have played a small part in protecting and preserving all that is authentic and special about the places where we are located.”

IHG and National Geographic’s began working together in 2007 with two successful global photography competitions, where guests and readers were invited to capture and share their authentic travel experiences. In 2008, InterContinental also sponsored National Geographic’s All Roads Film Festival, which showcased inspiring films by indigenous film makers.

“CSD is dedicated to protecting the world’s distinctive places through wisely managed tourism and enlightened destination stewardship,” said Jonathan Tourtellot, Director of the National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations (CSD) and creator of the geotourism concept. “We work closely with many allied organizations to develop and disseminate information on how tourism businesses, destination communities and travellers can help protect the character of these great places — their culture, natural habitats, architecture, scenery, even local cuisine. We look forward to working with InterContinental to create actionable tools that do that — locally, regionally and globally.”

Engaging with green

IHG has a new online tool called Green Engage, which helps hotel general managers manage energy consumption more effectively. In 2008, IHG also launched Innovation Hotel, an online example of what a future hotel might look like if it used new green technologies.

Guests can provide feedback on which of these they feel are important, allowing IHG to consider how they can be implemented as part of the Green Engage programme.

For more information, visit www.ihg.com/responsibility.

Representatives from each winning corporation accepted the awards from former NBTA President & CEO and current CSR Award Committee Chair Suzanne Fletcher at the first Green Travel Summit in Newport Beach, CA, which was co-sponsored by NBTA.

“Corporate Social Responsibility is an increasingly important component of corporate life,” says Kevin Maguire, NBTA President & CEO, CCTE, GLP. “The winning companies of the first NBTA CSR awards, which were selected from dozens of applicants through a rigorous review process, have proven to the industry that a well-managed CSR program and creative social initiatives can successfully reduce the global environmental impact of business travel.”

Symantec, a security solutions company with more than 17,500 employees in more than 40 countries, won in the “Direct” (travel buyer) category for its initiatives to minimize carbon emissions with enhanced video conferencing and a regional commute-reduction program. Since 2006, Symantec has reduced annual employee auto trips in the San Francisco area by 11 percent, resulting in a 9 percent decrease in emissions of carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and other air pollutants. The installation of video conference equipment in multiple global locations based on employee travel patters has reduced non-essential business travel. Symantec aims to reduce carbon emissions by 15 percent by the end of fiscal year 2012.

IHG won in the “Allied” (travel supplier) category for its commitment to supporting societal needs and reducing environmental impacts. Through its Americas region sustainability initiative Chase the Extraordinary, a grassroots campaign to engage employees at every level in the hotel, a team visited 208 hotels across North America to reinforce sustainability. IHG has reduced waste by 60% via recycling programs, saved $2.28 million worth of electricity, saved $139,715 with reduced garbage collections from 14 to 5 per month, and saves 22,000 liters of water each month in a 100 room hotel via its water reduction pilot Conserving for Tomorrow.

“The NBTA CSR Committee was established to provide leadership and resources to help NBTA member organizations understand the balance between the social, economic and environmental impact of their business travel programs,” said Leilani Latimer, NBTA CSR Committee Vice Chair and Director of Sustainability Initiatives at Sabre Holdings. “The initiatives undertaken by these winners and all applicants serve as perfect examples of how businesses can create long term, sustainable value for their key stakeholders, from investors to employees and communities.”

Award winner semi-finalists included KPMG, Kimpton Hotels and Continental Airlines.

Latimer and NBTA CSR Committee member Mary Ellen George, General Manager, Advito, spoke to Summit attendees about practical ways to recession-proof corporate travel programs by applying sustainability practices detailed in NBTA’s CSR Toolkit. Fletcher moderated a second NBTA session highlighting award-winner CSR efforts and programs.

The National Business Travel Association (NBTA) is the world’s premier business travel and corporate meetings organization. NBTA and its regional affiliates – NBTA Asia Pacific, the Brazilian Business Travel Association (ABGEV), NBTA Canada, NBTA Mexico and NBTA USA – serve a network of more than 15,000 business travel professionals around the globe with industry-leading events, networking, education & professional development, research, news & information, and advocacy.

NBTA members, numbering more than 4,000 in 30 nations, are corporate and government travel and meetings managers, as well as travel service providers. They collectively manage and direct more than US$200 billion of global business travel and meetings expenditures annually on behalf of more than 10 million business travelers within their organizations. For more information, visit www.nbta.org.

The system, which was developed by IHG, has been developed for use across IHG’s seven brands including InterContinental(R) Hotels & Resorts, Hotel Indigo, Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn Hotels and Resorts, Holiday Inn Express, Staybridge Suites and Candlewood Suites, following final trials in 650 hotels which will start late January 2009. It is expected the system will be offered as an option to all over 4,000 hotels across the IHG estate from mid 2009.

The IHG “Green Engage” software works by hotels directly inputting data on site. The system automatically compares hotels of a similar nature across the world and lists a series of actions that each hotel can take to reduce waste and the consumption of energy and water.

Green Engage responds to growing levels of interest from guests who are looking for sustainable hotels that manage their environmental impact. As well as location, price and amenities, guests are now factoring in a hotel’s environmental credentials when booking a place to stay.

By utilising ‘Green Engage’, hotels will now have for the first time, a comprehensive on-line system which gives them the means to:

• Measure - their usage of energy and water, waste produced and their carbon emissions. They can then benchmark themselves against other hotels and set demanding, but achievable reduction targets.
• Manage - the elements of their hotel that most impact the environment. These can range from insulating the hotel’s hot water pipes to introducing a recycling programme and switching to organic cleaning materials to appointing one of the employees as a green champion.
• Report - on progress to date both internally and to guests and corporate clients.

“This is an important initiative for IHG, our hotel owners and our guests,” says Andy Cosslett, IHG Chief Executive. “‘Green Engage’ is a practical tool designed to help improve environmental performance, reduce costs and respond to our guests increasing awareness of this issue. Across our estate we estimate Green Engage has the potential to drive up to $200 million of savings for our hotel owners and significantly reduce energy consumption.”

Tom Corcoran, Chairman of the IAHI Owners’ Association, and owner of a number of hotels taking part in the Green Engage pilot commented “Green Engage is not only good for the environment, but is also good for business. In the current economic climate and with rising energy bills, this tool will help us to identify significant cost savings. At the same time it delivers what our guests want – a greater sense of well-being and less impact on our planet when traveling.”

In 2008 IHG launched Innovation Hotel, an online example of what a future hotel might look like if it used new green technologies. Guests can provide feedback on which of these they feel are important, allowing IHG to consider how they can be implemented as part of the Green Engage program.