No sooner than I include the Hilton Kuala Lumpur on my list of the top four meetings and events locations in the Malaysian capital, Hilton Worldwide upgrades its MICE potential, with the introduction of the group’s Meet with Purpose programme into the region.

Described by the company as a way to ‘help hotels enrich their meetings and events offerings with responsible practices’, Hilton Malaysia will roll out ‘Meet with Purpose’ to all nine of its local properties.

By name, these are: Hilton Kuala Lumpur, Hilton Petaling Jaya, Hilton Kuching, Hilton Kota Kinabalu, DoubleTree by Hilton Kuala Lumpur, DoubleTree by Hilton Johor Bahru, DoubleTree by Hilton Melaka and DoubleTree Resort by Hilton Penang and Malaysia’s new Hilton brand, Hilton Garden Inn Kuala Lumpur Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman North.

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Constance Lee, assistant director of sales groups, conferences & events at Hilton Kuala Lumpur, described how nowadays clients are becoming environmentally conscientious when putting on an event: “Being an environmentally conscious company, it’s our responsibility to promote and offer options and practices that reduce the use of resources and waste production in the meetings and events setting.

“By June of this year,  Hilton Malaysia, will Say No to Plastic; plastic water bottles are replaced with glass bottles or pitchers and each delegate when attending a meeting will now receive recycled pens, notepads upon request.”

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Reflecting Hilton’s corporate responsibility strategy, Travel with Purpose, the philosophy behind the concept is to make it easier for meetings and events professionals to cut waste, boost sustainability and bring health and wellness into the MICE arena, focusing on three main areas — Mindful Eating, Mindful Meeting and Mindful Being.

Mindful Meeting inspires meeting professionals to host more sustainable events by considering practices that are less resource-intensive. The solutions range from using paperless registration and placing notepads in a central location to turning off climate control when a meeting room isn’t in use.

Mindful Being is about assisting meeting planners on ways to incorporate well-being into their meetings with ideas that pump up energy and boost creative thinking encouraging planners to incorporate interesting ideas into their itinerary.

Mindful Eating encourages meeting professionals to re-examine event dining to minimise food waste and encourage healthy choices. Hilton offers solutions such as portion control, sourcing locally, pre-plating salads and establishing central water stations with reusable containers.

Chef Ridzuan Malek (above), executive chef at Hilton Petaling Jaya, said: “Drawing from today’s dietary trends, food and beverage options favor local and seasonal ingredients while offering creativity in presentation which encourages planners to incorporate nutritionally balanced menus.

“When you go for a meeting, you see so many food products but with this concept, we now focus a lot on mindful and healthy eating, so that you are aware of what you eat. This is all based on healthy food items, which are locally sourced. We encourage everyone in using all his or her senses in choosing to eat food that is both satisfying and nourishing to their body.”