Lights out last night at Hilton Hotels across London

Hilton Hotels, London’s largest hotelier, last night participated in Capital Radio’s Lights Out London campaign to stage a one-hour blackout across the city. Having recently announced plans to reduce its Carbon Footprint in the UK & Ireland by 56% in 2007, Hilton switched off all exterior lights and signage at its London hotels for the hour slot of 9-10pm last night.

John Philip, Hilton’s Regional Vice President for London, said:

“As a company we are committed to reducing our emissions and are keen to support initiatives such as the Capital Radio campaign.”

At 9pm engineering staff switched off the lights and then turned them back on again at 10pm.

Each of the hotels, totalling 6,500 bedrooms including the three airport properties, otherwise operated as normal.

Key central locations include the Waldorf Hilton, the trafalgar and Hilton London Tower Bridge.

The change to carbon free electricity, which is helping Hilton to reduce emission so dramatically, follows an investment of £4 million in 2006.

This saw a reduction of energy consumption of up to 27% in certain hotels across the UK and Ireland. With a further investment of £4million planned in 2007, Hilton expects to see a further reduction of more than 10% in the hotels within this programme.

Specifically in London Hilton has started work on a £1.25m project at certain key hotels which will lead to an estimated £314k saving in the first year.

Simon Vincent, Area President for Hilton Hotels in the UK and Ireland said:

“As the leading hotel chain, we realise we have a great responsibility to take the industry lead and introduce measures that will help protect the environment, which is an enormous challenge.

“Tackling it requires an incremental approach with workable business solutions, and a change in mindset from the hotel’s front desk to the management board room.”

Hilton has implemented a comprehensive environmental strategy with key strands including the training of more than 15,000 team members in cultural energy reductions.


The participating Hilton hotels in London were:

London Hilton on Park Lane
Waldorf Hilton
The Trafalgar
Hilton London Tower Bridge
Hilton London Canary Wharf
Hilton London Docklands
Hilton London Islington
Hilton London Green Park
Hilton London Hyde Park
Hilton London Euston
Hilton London Paddington
Hilton London Metropole
Hilton London Kensington
Hilton London Olympia
Wembley Plaza
Hilton London Stansted Airport
Hilton London Gatwick Airport
Hilton London Heathrow Airport

Hilton UK & Ireland currently operate 75 hotels with over 15,300 bedrooms and 15,200 staff throughout the country. For further information on Hilton UK & Ireland properties, visit Hilton.co.uk.