The American Hotel & Lodging Foundation has a new $5-million, multiyear commitment and action plan to advance diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) in the hotel and lodging industry.
“This commitment will build on the industry’s initiatives by introducing new resources and programs, increasing collaboration amongst industry stakeholders and sharing best practices,” said Greg Juceam, president/COO, G6 Hospitality and AHLA Foundation chair of the board. “At a time when COVID-19 has wiped out 10 years of job growth in the industry, we are proud to foster DE&I through a unified approach on behalf of the industry.”
Under the plan, the foundation has created a DE&I task force comprising senior leaders throughout the industry. The task force has been meeting to develop a five-year road map to unite the industry around a commitment to foster DE&I by identifying and introducing programs to remove structural and behavioral barriers.
“Based on conversations with AHLA’s membership, the hotel and lodging industry is extremely diverse, especially at the property level,” said Rosanna Maietta, president/CEO, AHLA Foundation. “But we know that there is still work to do in order to advance DE&I at the leadership levels. We believe that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to advancing DE&I across all talent levels in the industry, and the foundation is proud to serve as a resource and convener to build on the legacy of work individual companies and properties are doing.”
The DE&I Task Force identified four guiding principles for the new initiative: diversifying representation at all levels; elevating inclusive leadership across corporate entities, properties, franchisees and supplier networks; driving accountability and transparency to achieve measurable DE&I results; and fostering innovative approaches to scale DE&I within the industry.
On the makeup of the task force, Maietta said, “We wanted to have a diverse set of stakeholders in terms of industry representation, seniority level, DE&I policy experience, gender, ethnicity and race. Additionally, to ensure that line-level employees were able to share their feedback, we invited two foundation beneficiaries, including one furloughed hotel employee.”
Task force members include representatives from Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG and Wyndham, as well as Simon Mendy, EVP, operations, Aimbridge Hospitality; Jim Merkel, CEO, Rockbridge; Harshil Patel, VP, Champion Hotels; and Kate Walsh, dean and E. M. Statler professor of the School of Hotel Administration, Cornell School of Hotel Administration.
Over the next five years, the AHLA Foundation will focus on three strategic priorities: driving DE&I at the leadership level, driving DE&I across all talent levels and developing a DE&I blueprint for the industry.
According to Juceam, who is also a member of the task force, initiatives underway include a new Leadership Academy focused on increasing representation at the executive level, as well as a mentorship program and a national ad campaign to attract diverse talent as the hotel industry recovers from COVID-19 and travel resumes.
“In the coming years,” Juceam said, “the foundation will build on these initiatives to unveil job resources, new tools, platforms and resources, among other innovative programs.”
