Marriott’s Human Trafficking Awareness Training Reaches 500,000
Lodging Daily News & Weekly Report
January 21, 2019
As of this month, Marriott International has trained 500,000 hotel workers to spot the signs of human trafficking in its hotels and how to respond if they do.
“Human trafficking is a horrific form of modern slavery that entraps millions of people around the world,” said Arne Sorenson, president and CEO of Marriott International. “By educating and empowering our global workforce to say something if they see something, we are not just standing up for the most vulnerable in society, we are also protecting associates and guests as well as living up to a core company value—serving our world.”
Marriott launched its mandatory human trafficking awareness training program for on-property staff in both managed and franchised properties in January 2017 as part of its Serve 360 platform.
“Hotels can, unfortunately, be unwilling venues for this unconscionable crime—and as a global hotel company that cares about human rights, we’re proud to be training hotel workers across the Marriott system to spot the signs,” said Dr. David Rodriguez, chief global human resources officer, Marriott International. “There is no easy fix, but combatting modern-day slavery starts with awareness—and we now have a significant number of people capable of recognizing suspicious behavior and reporting it to management and, in some cases, law enforcement.”
To develop and test its human trafficking awareness training program, Marriott spent nearly a year collaborating with ECPAT-USA and Polaris—two leading non-profits that specialize in combatting human trafficking. The company arranged for the program to be translated from English into 16 additional languages and also made sure it could be taken either online or in a classroom setting, so it can be accessed and understood in the 130 countries and territories where Marriott operates. The instruction is also broken down by role because the signs that a front desk clerk sees may differ from those that a housekeeper or bartender sees.
