What the Five-Star Promise really means

Hotel News Now

Larry Mogelonsky

December 10, 2018

A hotel industry initiative, backed by AHLA and major brands, shows a commitment to providing good, safe workplace environments for employees. It’s a good start, and if followed through will raise the reputation of hospitality, and ultimately benefit bottom lines.

In the early part of September, the American Hotel & Lodging Association in partnership with Hilton, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, InterContinental Hotels Group, Marriott International and Wyndham Hotels Group announced a commitment to industrywide improvements for employee safety, starting prominently with the issuance of portable panic buttons to help prevent harassment and assault. The initiative was called the “Five-Star Promise.”

I’ve waited to address this event because I wanted to allow enough time to see what the actual fallout would be and how individual properties would respond. While actions have been taken to advance working conditions for frontline associates, it is a long and arduous road to implement the necessary safety and training protocols while still keeping a tab on the bottom line.

Continuous workplace improvements
Thinking broadly, though, the Five-Star Promise should not come as a surprise to anyone with a good gauge of historical progress. Besides a few minor blips, workers’ rights and workplace conditions have improved over the past few decades, and they will continue to do so with commitments from the major brands. Concurrently, labor unions will continue their activities to generate awareness for potential hazards and problems in the hospitality industry, acting in many ways as shepherds for what steps to take next.

Important for everyone to note is that times are changing at an alarmingly rapid rate. For example, look at the recent banning on plastic straws across the world as a means to curb pollution in our oceans. Do you really believe that will be the last piece of wasteful plastic to be prohibited? Plastic water bottles, plastic bags at grocery stores, plastic package wrappings and six-pack rings may all soon be abolished. Along these lines, the recent panic button deployment will hardly be the last new employee safety device (ESD) that hotels adopt.

Part of the contemporary shift involves recognizing the best working conditions for all team members, and then acting ahead of any government legislations. This is done because it has been thoroughly proven that a good workplace environment translates into better morale, increased productivity over the long-term, lower turnover rates (and thus inherent cost savings through reduced onboarding expenses) and heightened succession planning so that the cream of our youth is given the right nurturing to rise within our organizations.

Although many would deem the hotel industry a laggard in soft innovations and policy shifts of this sort, the 5-Star Promise demonstrates that we have perhaps turned a corner and that we are indeed not resting on our laurels.

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