Marriott International has initiated a pilot programme, HotelHelp, aimed at providing short-term emergency accommodation to survivors of human trafficking.
This programme was unveiled at the AHLA Foundation's third annual No Room for Trafficking (NRFT) Summit, to mark the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons.
HotelHelp is currently being piloted across five US cities, namely Detroit, Atlanta, Phoenix, Seattle, and Washington.
The programme is expected to expand to 25 cities across North America by January next year.
Marriott's long-term vision for HotelHelp includes scaling the programme globally and extending it to other hotel companies.
The new programme is modelled after the HospitalityHelps online booking platform.
Established by HotelSwaps and PKF International, HospitalityHelps provided more than 100,000 room nights for Ukrainian refugees during the first three months of the conflict.
HotelSwaps, a key partner in the development and operation of HotelHelp, had facilitated over 8,700 room nights in 87 Marriott hotels across Europe as part of HospitalityHelps.
Through the pilot programme, care providers can book up to five nights of accommodation per person for the survivors they support, ensuring the confidentiality of these individuals.
In addition, the platform encourages collaboration between local care providers and participating hotels to address the specific needs of each stay.
Marriott International president and CEO Anthony Capuano said: “Survivors of human trafficking often face a shortage of dedicated shelter beds that put them at greater risk of being re-trafficked after exiting their trafficking situation.
“As part of our longstanding anti-trafficking and survivor empowerment efforts, we are proud to have developed a solution to bridge the gap for safe, short-term accommodations for trafficking survivors and we look forward to working with other hotel companies to extend the reach of this effort.”
The latest initiative follows Marriott's national rollout of the Future in Training (FiT) Hospitality Survivor Employability Curriculum, which was developed in collaboration with the University of Maryland Support, Advocacy, Freedom, and Empowerment Center (the SAFE Center).
Since July 2023, nearly 160 survivors have received job readiness training across 11 US cities.
Marriott International and The J Willard and Alice S Marriott Foundation have contributed $550,000 to support these efforts.
Additionally, Marriott is training all on-property associates in human trafficking awareness by 2025 as part of its Serve 360 platform.
The hospitality company said that since 2016, over 1.3 million associates have already been trained, and its training modules have been completed more than 1.6 million times industry-wide through PACT.
The enhanced version of this training is also available globally through the World Sustainable Hospitality Alliance.
