Client: Willard InterContinental
Job: To position the Willard InterContinental as a standard-bearer in the hotel industry for its commitment to sustainability and social and ecological consciousness
Agency: Willard InterContinental public relations team
Theme: “Willard InterContinental: The Next 100 Years”
The concept: The Willard says a triple bottom line — people, profit and planet — is the way of doing business in the future. It wanted to prove that the hotel industry could adhere to socially and environmentally responsible practices while remaining economically viable.
The plan: The Willard started a series of ongoing projects centered on the themes of conservation and community involvement. Under the hotel’s Project Blue, when guests choose to save water and detergent by reusing towels, the Willard donates the cost savings to a revival program for the Anacostia River. The hotel also donates a portion of its proceeds from bottled water sales to a fund for replenishing the Chesapeake Bay. Under Project Green, the Willard partnered with the National Parks Service to clean and enhance the park across the street from the hotel, Pershing Park, and continues to host the monthly “Arts in Pershing Park,” where local artists can sell their work.
Hotel executives have participated in webinars associated with the Environmental Protection Agency to teach interested hoteliers how to implement sustainable practices and have provided case studies to the United Nations, which is preparing sustainability educational materials.
The Willard leverages its relationships with its partners, such as with Pepco, which retrofitted the building’s lighting system, to generate media coverage through combined press releases. The hotel’s sustainability programs have been featured in Hotels Magazine, Hotel Business, Green Lodging News and on CNN Money, Yahoo Finance and local television news stations across the country.
Creative team: Barbara Bahny (director of public relations); Meredith Goldberg (public relations assistant)
Working on next: In January, the hotel will release its Green Meeting Event Planning Guide. The guide will inform meeting planners about the hotel’s green options, which include in-season cuisine with ingredients from local farms, sustainable fish dishes, organic beverages and composting and recycling.
