Meliá Hotels International's strategy and results in reducing its environmental impact and leading technological innovation in the industry have received the highest recognition at the second annual Best Business Practice Awards, organised by El Confidencial in collaboration with KPMG to recognise the efforts made by Spanish companies to improve business practices.

As a leader in its industry, Meliá Hotels International was a finalist in the "Eco-efficiency" and "Digitalisation" categories and was named the winner in both by a jury consisting mainly previous award winners.

The "Eco-efficiency" category rewards initiatives to reduce the environmental impact of business, and recognised the efforts made by Meliá Hotels International to ensure the full integration of its sustainability standards in its global business model. Thanks to its internal energy saving and efficiency programme (the SAVE Project), the company has optimised consumption in more than 200 hotels and reduced CO2 emissions beyond even the objective defined in its Strategic Plan 2012-2014.

The project includes different initiatives such as the management, monitoring and control of consumption and demand, the standardisation of systems and efficient products, awareness and training of company staff, and energy-saving investments in refurbished and new hotels. One of the best examples is the recent renovation of the ME Ibiza hotel, which was recently named one of the top 10 hotel projects in sustainable renovation in Spain (Rethink Hotel Award 2015).

In the "Digitalisation" category, which aims to reward projects focused on opening, developing and consolidating online businesses, Meliá Hotels International received the award for its strategic focus on innovation in online distribution channels and the digital transformation of its customer relationships, responding to new patterns in consumer behaviour to improve the user experience.

With the launch of the Meliá Digital transformation project, Meliá expects to invest over 100 million euros over the next three years in technology, expertise and digital marketing. Melial has become an essential channel in company sales, with annual growth of 25% in the past three years. MHI has also developed new digital tools to optimise relationships with its B2B customers, creating MeliaPRO for travel agents and Business Travel by Meliá for the business traveller.

Gabriel Escarrer, Vice Chairman and CEO of Meliá Hotels International, said that he felt "very proud of the company's achievements and the route map defined for framing our growth within strict social and environmental responsibility criteria, and, of course, for leading technological evolution in the industry. These two awards confirm the success of our management culture and our ability to adapt to the current environment, which has been instrumental in consolidating the company".

Huong Truong