HEI Chairman Gary Mendell Announces Company on Track to Surpass 10,000 Community Service Hours in 2012

NORWALK, Conn., June 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- HEI Hotels & Resorts (HEI), a socially responsible investor and employer in the hospitality industry, today announced it is on track to surpass 10,000 community service hours by the end of the year across 43 hotel properties. So far this year, HEI employees have volunteered, raised money and donated goods to over 30 charities.

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"When HEI Hotels & Resorts gets involved in community service, we leave a lasting legacy," said HEI Chairman Gary Mendell. "We try to not just talk about service – but actually do it as well. Through our company Values Award, we recognize our employees for community service. This also grows our HEI community while strengthening our ties in the cities where we work."  

This year alone, HEI Hotel & Resorts property teams have made a huge difference, donating time, money, and services to local non-profits and charities. At the St. Louis Westin, employees donated almost 4,000 diapers to Nurses for Newborns, a non-profit benefitting at-risk babies. Westin Pasadena raised funds to buy supplies for three local classrooms through the charity Donors Choose. The employees of Embassy Suites Lake Buena Vista facilitated a Jump Rope for Heart event at a local elementary school, which raised $1,500 for the American Heart Association while teaching children the benefits of physical activity and community service. In Boston, Liberty Hotel employees participated in Project Bread's Walk for Hunger, which in total had 41,000 walkers and raised $3.6 million to feed local families. The team at Renaissance Fort Lauderdale purchased $3500 worth of food, which feeds 35 children for 6 weeks, for the Tender Hands Orphanage, an organization that delivers food to families in need in Haiti. Much of this community service was initiated by hotel employees, with personal connections to the charities.

Community service also involved local environmental conservation efforts, reinforcing HEI's commitment to environmental stewardship. The Sheraton Music City began tracking their cardboard recycling and after the first month of tracking accumulated almost 5600 pounds of cardboard to be recycled – over double the amount of previous months.

About HEI
HEI Hotels & Resorts, headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut with 43 properties in 16 states, creates socially responsible investment and employment opportunities through real estate portfolios of hotels and resorts throughout the United States under such well-known brand names as Marriott, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, Embassy Suites, and Hilton. HEI takes a holistic approach to creating value for its investors and employees by setting the highest standards across all aspects of hotel management and operation and focusing on the central principles of excellence and continuous improvement. HEI prides itself on some of the highest employee satisfaction scores in the hospitality industry, fuels local economic prosperity by investing in communities and is committed to environmental stewardship and sustainability. For more information about HEI, visit the company's website, www.heihotels.com.

SOURCE HEI Hotels & Resorts

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