CHICAGO—Hyatt last week announced Hyatt Thrive, the company’s global corporate responsibility platform, designed to help make communities places where Hyatt associates are proud to work, where guests want to visit, where neighbors want to live and where hotel owners want to invest. Hyatt Thrive builds on Hyatt’s history of community engagement and environmental stewardship by empowering more than 85,000 Hyatt associates at more than 450 properties around the world to do one thing: thrive.
Hyatt Thrive is grounded in four key pillars that Hyatt believes are crucial to foster thriving communities:
• Environmental sustainability: Reducing resource consumption, waste and emissions, and protecting the natural environment in local communities.
• Economic development and investment: Investing in communities to stimulate local economic development and growth.
• Education and personal advancement: Providing opportunities for associates and neighbors to develop their talents and skills and achieve their greatest potential.
• Health and wellness: Driving programs that enhance the health and wellness of associates, neighbors and guests.
These pillars support a number of Hyatt Thrive programs including those centered on volunteerism, community grants and disaster relief. These programs are designed to empower associates to direct their efforts and volunteer their time toward initiatives that meet their communities’ distinct needs.
Hyatt Thrive & Hyatt Earth
Hyatt Thrive also includes a major commitment to environmental stewardship in Hyatt hotels and the communities where they operate. Through Hyatt Earth, the company is working toward protecting the natural habitats and environments in its communities, measuring results of natural resource conservation, and improving efficiencies across operations by reducing energy and water use, greenhouse gas emissions and waste sent to landfills all through the work of local Green Teams at properties worldwide.
“Hyatt Thrive builds on our rich history of community engagement and environmental stewardship and is a global framework for teams of passionate people to bring to life local projects that benefit their communities,” said Mark Hoplamazian, president and CEO for Hyatt Hotels Corp. “The efforts of our hotel and corporate teams are a natural extension of our mission to provide authentic hospitality by making a difference in the lives of the people we touch every day.”
In celebration of the launch of Hyatt Thrive, the company is introducing its inaugural global volunteer initiative that will bring Hyatt associates from around the world together in a common effort to volunteer in their local communities. The month-long initiative kicks off on June 13, 2011, with each hotel’s volunteer project grounded in a key tenet of Hyatt Thrive.
“We are committed to helping people thrive by focusing on local projects that contribute to the prosperity, health and advancement of the many communities around the world that we call home,” said Brigitta Witt, vice president corporate responsibility for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts. “No one better understands a community’s most pressing issues—and how to address them—than those who live and work there every day.”
Volunteer Event on June 17
As part of Hyatt’s global volunteer initiative, approximately 375 Hyatt corporate office team members and colleagues from Park Hyatt Chicago, Hyatt Regency Chicago and Hyatt Regency McCormick Place will join Hoplamazian and Witt for a volunteer event on June 17. The team will be working to improve the campus of a Chicago public school by painting, landscaping and creating canvas murals to make a more welcoming learning environment for students.
Additional examples of other Hyatt Thrive volunteer projects around the world throughout the month of June include:
• The revitalized Hyatt Regency New Orleans will open in October six years after its closure following Hurricane Katrina. To kick off its renewed commitment to the community, the hotel team and Hyatt North America COO Chuck Floyd will volunteer on June 14 with the Make It Right Foundation to improve the landscaping for its playground, which is one of the most technically advanced eco-playgrounds in the country. The play equipment is built with only sustainable and recyclable materials and includes a solar-powered computer that allows Lower 9th Ward children to play physically active digital games. Additionally, a $300,000 donation will be made to the organization, which will fund the building of two more homes in the community.
• Fifty associates from Grand Hyatt Seoul, in coordination with the Yongsan District Office, will work to “Clean the Walk at Namsan,” a trail near the hotel on renowned Mt. Namsan. Special educational sessions covering health and investment issues will also be offered during the week as well as at-home care services for the community’s elderly.
To learn more about Hyatt’s Corporate Responsibility programs, visit www.HyattThrive.com. To watch a video of Brigitta Witt explaining Hyatt Thrive, its key areas of focus, and how it will be brought to life at Hyatt hotels around the world, visit the Hyatt blog at http://bit.ly/kfOD9M.
