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Sustainable Hospitality

We embrace environmental and community stewardship as an integral part of maintaining and building a successful business. In 2010, we conceptualized and developed a proprietary corporate program, EarthView®, that encompasses a triple-bottom-line approach to sustainability. The program delivers comprehensive environmental initiatives that positively impact our hotels’ bottom lines, increase the efficiency of our buildings, and improve the well-being of our guests, employees, communities, and planet.

The EarthView® team works with every corporate department and property-level leadership to implement the program across our portfolio of hotels, including several of our mixed-use properties, which share space with condominiums, restaurants, and other commercial tenants.

earthview
THE AMBROSE HOTEL, SANTA MONICA
Photo Credit: Waterboys.org
  • FINANCIAL IMPACT

    Being active stewards of our environment and our communities makes for high-quality, responsible business. Through EarthView, Hersha drives incremental value by implementing efficiency initiatives with measurable returns. This approach creates value via expense reduction in the short term and increased real estate valuation in the long term. To date, initiatives implemented as part of EarthView’s comprehensive program have achieved net savings of $24 million.

    EarthView’s sustainability initiatives drive annual operational savings that help hotels meet and exceed budget goals. On average, implementing EarthView creates $40,000-$50,000 in annual savings per hotel.

    Our sustainability commitment has been recognized by the National Association of Real Estate Investment Trusts (NAREIT). EarthView has repeatedly been awarded the prestigious “Leader in the Light” award amongst Lodging & Resort companies for superior portfolio-wide energy use practices and sustainability initiatives. In 2021, Hersha ranked 1st among U.S. Lodging Peers in the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark’s (GRESB) Public Disclosure.

    $24 Million

    EarthView’s recorded savings since inception through initiatives implemented across our portfolio

  • ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT

    As a hotel company, we rely on nature’s resources to construct our buildings, fill them with heat and light, and transform ordinary buildings into extraordinary places to stay. Our hotels provide dining experiences, spas, engaging lobbies and a comfortable place for guests to relax at the end of the day. We strive to ensure that we provide the best experience to our guests, while also being responsible for our environmental impact

    We are committed to operating in a way that enhances our communities and preserves our local and global environment. Putting this philosophy into practice means we focus on reducing our environmental impact and integrating sustainable innovation across our value chain.

    As of year-end 2022, 36% of our hotels had been awarded a third-party building certification, such as LEED, EnergyStar, ISO 14001 (for environmental management), or ISO 50001 (for energy management).

    19%

    Reduction in energy consumption per square foot across our portfolio in 2022 versus our baseline year of 2010

     

    54%

    Absolute reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across our portfolio in 2022 versus our baseline year of 2010

     

    30%

    Waste diversion rate in 2022

     

    14%

    Reduction in water consumption per square foot across our portfolio in 2022 versus our baseline year of 2010

     

  • SOCIAL IMPACT

    Per the words of Hersha’s founders, there is no greater dignity than that found in service. “Hearts that Serve” is one of our core values and reflects our long tradition of social responsibility and community engagement. We believe that people are our strength. By putting people first, we can provide for our guests, support our associates, and have a strong presence in our communities to drive positive change locally and globally.

    To support our associates, we facilitate comprehensive succession planning and leadership development training for rising managers, hold regular performance evaluations, and provide competitive compensation and numerous non-salary benefits.

    We also provide in-depth sustainability leadership training to all property-level leaders, highlighting social impact opportunities through community engagement.

    On a local level, our strategy is to be located in urban markets in the US and work with local partnerships to revitalize the community. For instance, our Ritz-Carlton Georgetown is an adaptive reuse of a formerly vacant industrial building, our Envoy Hotel supported the revitalization of Seaport, MA, our NU Hotel supports the local art community in Brooklyn, and our Philadelphia hotels support the Bethesda Project, which serves people experiencing homelessness and helps revitalize neighborhoods throughout Philadelphia.

    Hersha is committed to providing an inclusive, safe, and open work environment. To that end, our Chief Executive Officer signed the CEO Action for Diversity and Inclusion Pledge, joining other CEOs across all industries in committing further to enhance diversity and inclusion in the workplace and boardroom.

    Meanwhile, our focus on communities is reflected in our support of national and global programs that help care for those in need. We are fortunate to be in a position to create both awareness and consciousness for our guests and associates on pressing issues, while also helping members of our global communities. Learn more about our #LetsDoGood campaign to help communities around the world gain access to life-sustaining water.

     

    33%

    of Hersha’s workforce identify as women

     

    30%

    of Hersha’s workforce identifies as a member of a minority group

     

    32,200+

    People provided with access to clean water for 21 years through funding of EarthView Water since 2015

     

    20,450

    Hours volunteered in our local communities since 2015

     

    590,000

    New bars of sanitized and repackaged soap sent to developing nations since 2011

  • THIRD PARTY ACCOLADES

     

     

    Ranked one of America’s Greenest Companies in 2025 by Newsweek

     

     

     

    Ranked #1 in GRESB’s Public Disclosure among U.S. Hotel REITs in 2023 for the fourth consecutive year

     

     

     

     

    4-time winner of NAREIT’s Leader in the Light Award for superior sustainability practices

     

     

     

    36% of portfolio awarded a third-party building certification such as LEED, ENERGY STAR, or ISO 14001

     

     

     

    Ranked in the Top 2% of Real Estate companies evaluated by the ISS ESG Corporate Rating