Responsible business

As we have navigated our way through this period of recovery, our actions have been guided by our Responsible Business goals. The manner in which we reengaged our team members, reopened our properties and reactivated our operations were all informed by our purpose and goals.

The circumstances of the pandemic and the need to take difficult but essential steps to protect the future of the business, gave us a whole new awareness and appreciation for the direct impact that our decisions and business have on Our People, Our Places and Our Planet. While the pandemic has presented numerous obstacles for our business, it has also provided an opportunity for rebuilding our business in a manner that will foster a brighter tomorrow.

We were happy to turn a story of regrettably necessary redundancies during the pandemic into one of re-employing many of our team members and creating new recruitment opportunities in 2021. We were also aware of the feelings of nervousness and anxiety that may have existed in the workforce as they came back to work and emerged from lockdowns, and we made significant efforts to ensure that people felt comfortable performing their roles in our hotels and offices. This was done through continuing our comprehensive health and safety and well-being programme ‘Reassuring Moments’ and a number of new initiatives aimed at supporting the mental and physical well-being of our team as well as continuing to provide training and inspiring career opportunities aimed at promoting their development. We utilised a number of tools to remain in tune with the views of the workforce which in turn guided our approach and activities as necessary.

We also continued our approach of using hospitality as a tool to serve the communities in which we operate. By leveraging our experience and skills in providing excellent service and using innovative solutions in the delivery of this service where necessary, we were able to: support the NHS as well as hospitals and key workers across our regions during their time of need; ensure that mass events that lift morale in the communities in which we serve could go ahead within the challenging context of the pandemic; and support the government in facilitating essential travel in a safe manner.

We also formed a new ESG Committee to whom the new data we collect will be reported and will help set targets for carbon reduction, and set the benchmarks by which our progress will be measured year on year to hold the business accountable. For the first time the Group’s owned and managed hotels across the UK, the Netherlands and Germany became wholly reliant on electricity generated from 100% renewable sources, and we also launched our Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (“TCFD”) reporting . We welcomed the opportunity of greater transparency on our carbon emissions and strategy and for more meaningful engagement with the risks and opportunities presented to us by different climate change scenarios. We were pleased with the progress made in 2021 refining and further developing our environmental strategy. For the first time, the Group’s hotels across the UK, the Netherlands and Germany became wholly reliant on electricity generated from 100% renewable source.

Our priority is to deliver a long-term, sustainable business model which adds value for our stakeholders and society as a whole. We look forward to continuing to build on the good work we have done to continue to create value for Our People, Our Places and Our Planet.