Hilton London Bankside achieves Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC ®) certificate for unwavering dedication

Design-led hotel and Hilton flagship, Hilton London Bankside, has become the UK’s 2nd hotel to achieve certification by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC®), for its compliance with the highest social and environmental standards in sustainable travel and tourism.

Photo credits: Hilton London Bankside

The hotel has received this highly acclaimed certificate for its ongoing dedication to implementing sustainable practices across all aspects of the business, alongside showing great commitment and pride in supporting the local community. 

Hilton London Bankside was notably recognised for a range of initiatives, including its work with local homeless charity The Manna Society; fundraising events in favour of Hospitality Action, a charity offering support to those in the hospitality industry, and donations towards Bankside Open Spaces Trust for Bankside Corporate Games.

The certification further recognised and celebrates the hotel team’s exceptional commitment to sustainability and social responsibility, acknowledging Hilton London Bankside’s initiatives such as partnering with Southwark College to provide work experience placements to neurodiverse students, providing career advice and guidance, and the team’s voluntary work to support local Business Invest District, Better Bankside with park clean ups, litter picking and community planting.  

Leading by example, Executive Chef, Ollie Couillaud launched his ‘Banana project’, turning excess bananas that would otherwise go to waste into banana cake, which is served at brunch, events and given to local homeless charity, The Manna Society. The hotel has also launched a pilot project with light sensors installed in its sales office using ‘cardboard lighting’ to reduce the amount of energy used. 

The hotel has repeatedly excelled in areas such as effective sustainability planning, maximising social and economic benefits for the local community which has been recognised by the GSTC®, making it one of only two hotels in the UK with the esteemed certificate.

This certification follows a detailed audit by Viero on behalf of GSTC. Vireo is an approved Certification Body (CB) which in 2019 was verified through a rigorous external review from an accreditation to issue the GSCT Certification.

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council establishes and manages global standards for sustainable travel and tourism. It is an independent and neutral organisation that represents a diverse and global membership, including national and provincial governments, leading travel companies, hotels, tour operators, NGO’s, individuals and communities, all striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism. 

Nadeem Boghani, Vice Chairman at Splendid Hospitality Group commented: “We are immensely proud of the dedication and hard work that the team at Hilton London Bankside has put into achieving GSTC certification. This milestone reflects not only our commitment to best practices, but also marks an important step in Splendid Hospitality Group’s ongoing journey towards a more sustainable future.”

Raoul De Souza, General Manager at the Hilton London Bankside, says: “Environmental, social, and governance principles are core to how we operate at Hilton London Bankside, so achieving GSTC certification is a remarkable achievement the passion and perseverance of our team has been truly inspiring, and this certification reflects our meaningful progress on the path to becoming a more sustainable business.”