Get to know one local business through which the simple act of booking a hotel room can change lives.
By Mary Murphy, Photos courtesy of Hotels for Hope
All businesses have a platform, and Hotels for Hope is using its for good. HFH Founder and CEO Neil Goldman was inspired after listening to a speaker at a business conference. He approached the speaker, Toms Shoes Founder Blake Mycoskie, after his presentation and talked in detail about using business for social good and Mycoskie’s famous one-for-one business model, one that’s transforming the lives of those in need with each purchase.
It was only six short months later when Goldman transformed his pre-existing business in the hospitality industry into what HFH is today.
HFH is a for-profit social enterprise that brokers hotel inventory for events of all shapes and sizes. Clients who use HFH can expect to build and extend their brand, deliver better customer experiences and support meaningful causes. Rather than sending event guests to choose a hotel at random, the organization keeps guests immersed within client brands. From logos and fonts to pictures and sponsors, HFH integrates a business into each guest’s overnight stay.
So, how does Hotels for Hope actually work? HFH can do what it does thanks to technology, which allows the company to fully customize booking portals for seamless booking experiences, providing brokerage services that reduce client cost and mitigate risks, as well as “roomfunding,” a critical component of HFH’s business model touted as a new way of giving back. With 6,000-plus hotel partnerships the company can align with hotels on a local, regional, national and global basis. Through roomfunding, clients have the ability to extend their corporate impact and build cause marketing that resonates with stakeholders. At no cost to their clients, HFH donates $2 per night to its nonprofit partners, including local music nonprofit Kids in a New Groove.
Presently, a total of $774,108 has been donated to children-focused nonprofits through HFH. Goldman chose to have HFH benefit such nonprofits because he knows children are our future and believes we need to impact them in a positive way. It is the hope of Goldman and the rest of the HFH family that the business can inspire others to use companies as a platform for social good.
