A Bangkok hotel answers the call for green events

With 1,893 square metres of event space spread across 22 meeting rooms, a ballroom that can hold up to 1,200 people, and a prime location in the heart of Wireless Road, it's easy to understand why Conrad Bangkok is among the city's preferred venues for MICE events. 

As planners and delegates become more aware of sustainable travel, they are looking for more than just a venue for events, points out Tim Sainsbury, general manager of Conrad Bangkok, which has been proactive in implementing the Hilton Hotels and Resorts' Travel with Purpose ESG strategy.  

Responding to the call for sustainability

Citing a specific example of an inquiry from a firm in the US that requested a sustainable event, Sainsbury mentioned that Conrad Bangkok offered meal and break menus made from zero-waste ingredients sourced entirely locally, including from the hotel's garden terrace. The hotel also reduces printing with the use of QR codes, like the directories and menus printed on a wooden die.

Conrad Bangkok has also developed its own activities suitable for incentive or team-building groups. Guests can make traditional elephant dolls that benefit a community outside Chiang Mai or make soap from discarded bars that are recycled and then donated to communities in need. In this way, the hotel can produce up to 30kg of soap a month.

In response to the growing demand for community-based activities, the hotel has even created an off-site tour to Bang Krachao, known as the known as the green lung of Bangkok. The tour is particularly popular as a group activity, where participants can bike through the canals, meet with local artisans and finish with a dinner cooked by local families using locally-grown ingredients.

Bringing all these elements together is an approach that Sainsbury describes as holistic. And it’s not limited to his hotel. “Whatever we do here, we can scale up [across Hilton’s 12 properties in Thailand],” he says.

Calculating impacts from events

The most effective tool for explaining the hotel's positive impact is Hilton's proprietary Lightstay Meeting Calculator. The calculator uses data that has been consistently refined and updated since 2009, now encompassing every Hilton property worldwide.

The calculator takes into account various parameters such as the number of participants, the meals they order, the length of their stay, and the activities they participate in, to determine the environmental impact of a specific event. Once energy and water consumption and waste production are taken into account, Hilton collaborates with NGO South Pole to offset the carbon footprint of the event in reforestation and water management projects around the world.

The calculator is updated monthly based on changes made to the hotel. As event lead times have shortened to just one to four months, compared to an average of six to nine months before the Covid-19 pandemic, organisers can be assured that they have the most accurate data available. According to Sainsbury, the majority of room bookings at Conrad Bangkok are made within 30 days of the stay.

While the calculator allows guests to hold low-impact events, the hotel can also track its progress and pinpoint areas that need improvement. By Hilton's own calculations according to its 2021 numbers, the group recorded a 70% reduction in landfilled waste per square metre and a 49% reduction in CO2 emissions intensity per square metre from the 2008 baseline.

"The calculator has so much pooled information from properties; it's almost like a traffic light system: green, amber, red. If you miss out on something, you get a call," says Sainsbury. "You can drill down to see what's performing above or below average."

At Conrad Bangkok, the improvements can range from installing LED lighting in all meeting rooms and temperature control activated by motion sensors to upgrading water pumps and walk-in chillers that are both more energy-efficient and of adaptable capacity. Large units no longer need to run when they are empty. 

"With a property of our age, where we're about to hit 20, the efficiency levels are just not the same," says Sainsbury, referring to the hotel's original equipment. "So upgrades can make a significant difference."