Hilton Worldwide : Giovanna Garofano

Giovanna Garofano

May 23, 2018

Giovanna joined Hilton in 2008 as assistant Chief Engineer for the Rome Cavalieri, Waldorf Astoria where she was responsible for - amongst many things - the coordination of technical services, maintenance activities, safety and environmental sustainability for the hotel.

In 2014, Giovanna, along with all her engineering colleagues won the Best Management and Energy Saving Performances competition in the W&S Europe region. This win was quickly followed by a promotion to the role of Chief Engineer in 2015, where she was then able to start implementing a series of strategies to improve technical performance, as well as cost and energy saving.

More recently, Giovanna has been appointed leader of the Sustainability Committee with the aim of joining and contributing to Hilton's Travel with Purpose program. In addition, she has assisted with the technical auditing of two new hotels in Rome, and has helped to launch the CO2 Neutrality project that encourages all Head of Departments and Team Members to contribute to sustainability through a variety of actions.

All of this hard work played a part in Rome Cavalieri winning the DRIVING VALUE competition for Best Performing Hotel in Europe and Luxury EMEA, whilst Giovanna and her Engineering Team won Best in Region. As part of this win, she led the hotel to achieve a 3% energy reduction and 12% water reduction - the equivalent of 20 Olympic sized swimming pools. To achieve this recognition, Giovanna engaged all Heads of Departments to work together sharing best practices, tracking consumption, and revamping the extensive irrigation system. The hotel was particularly pleased about this as the prize meant the entire hotel staff received a bicycle - 400 in total!

'Giovanna is part of a new generation of Chief Engineers who approaches all of our on property projects with sustainability as the driving force. The added value that she brings to each project is never losing sight of the fact that hospitality is paramount and she is able to seamlessly integrate these two factors into her approach to problem solving. Giovanna is a shining example for the Rome Cavalieri team, the Waldorf Astoria brand and all of Hilton,' said Alessandro Cabella

Giovanna's overall goal is to make the Rome Cavalieri a carbon neutral hotel; beginning with the installation of electric charging stations for Guests with electric cars.

We'd like to thank Giovanna for everything she has done, and continues to do. She is a fantastic reminder of how each of us can make a positive impact, and if we all work as a team we can ensure a more sustainable future for generations to come.