NH Hotel Group seeks to create a positive impact on the communities where it is present through key responsible alliances, solidarity projects and patronage.
One of the main goals of NH Hotel Group’s sustainable business strategy is to maintain active relations with the communities where it operates, contributing to local development and attending to the needs of each destination where it is present through the business itself.
Local impact is achieved thanks to the creation of responsible alliances with foundations and NGOs, the collaboration of employee volunteers in projects and the promotion of culture.
NH Hotel Group is committed to building responsible and successful alliances with supportive partners, with the aim of developing stable and replicable projects in all Business Units. To this end, the Company has defined three lines of global action: Together with Love, Hotels with a Heart and Employability Programmes.
* NGO Rate – Application of a 30% discount on the best available rate for entities that have been previously assessed and approved by the Corporate Responsibility department.
** Friend Rate and Employee Rate– – collecting €2 and €1 respectively of the costs of bookings made with the special rate for employees, family and friends and then using these funds in accommodation and restaurant services, special rates and scholarships in the Social Action programs of the different Business Units.
Corporate Volunteering: Together with Love
In 2019, under the motto “Together with Love”, NH Hotel Group held a corporate volunteering week at world level for the first time. This is a global initiative focused on sustainability and on strengthening relations with the local communities where the Group is present, and to which all the Company’s teams were invited to take part. In this way, NH Hotel Group has joined the volunteering initiative carried out annually by Minor International, with which it shares a firm commitment to the development of its Corporate Social Responsibility strategy.
For a week, around one thousand employees participated as volunteers in several initiatives, chosen and led by themselves. Thus, for example, Central Services in Spain collaborated with various soup kitchens in Madrid, carried out a river study and conservation activity, accompanied disabled people in leisure activities and participated in blood donation campaigns. For its part, in the Northern Europe Business Units multiple hotel employees participated in a clean-up activity in canals and parks in cities like Amsterdam or Berlin; and in the Southern Europe Business Unit employees participated in food collections and welcomed visits from school pupils to the hotels where the employees told them about their work. Finally, in the Americas Business Unit, employees raised funds and food for several local NGOs and created an organic fruit and vegetable garden, the produce of which will be donated to the Amiguitos de Royal Foundation, among other initiatives.
1.164
TWL volunteers
35.494
TWL beneficiaries*
The programme, in which both the Management Team and the employees of hotels and central offices have participated, is part of NH Hotel Group’s Corporate Social Responsibility Strategic Plan, which not only establishes the Company’s global CSR commitments and actions, but also provides for specific local implementation to enhance all initiatives with the special cultural and social touch of each of the places where we operate.
* It has been accounted for that each charity canteen serves 230 daily menus.
Hotels with a Heart – HwH
Hotels with a Heart is an initiative that aims to ensure that children and young people who suffer from a serious illness and have to go to a hospital far from their home can be accompanied by their closest family at this difficult time.
To do this, NH Hotel Group provides the families with rooms at hotels close to the hospital free of charge. With this goal, and in close collaboration with local NGOs and foundations, the Company provides free accommodation close to hospitals in several cities at national and international level to families with limited resources, so that they can accompany their loved ones.
Several employees of NH Hotel Group also participate voluntarily in this initiative, acting as the true hosts of these families and “Ambassadors” of the programme in each of the hotels. The NH Madrid Sur is the flagship hotel of the “Hotels with a Heart” programme, as its agreement with the Menudos Corazones Foundation, which started in 2004, is still in place.
Each establishment has a person who takes care of the families, sharing their experiences and helping to make their stay at the hotel as comfortable as possible, Since the programme started, more than 2,000 employees each year have become real hosts to these families, helping to make the hotel a second home for them.
Actions at HQ:
The real Three Wise Men:
In December, as part of the Together with Love corporate volunteering initiative, the Central Services Offices organized a real special action for Christmas: the employees of NH Hotel Group helped the Three Wise Men in their task of bringing gifts to all children on the night of January 6th.
In collaboration with the “Real Three Wise Men” project, 57 employees made the Christmas dreams for 57 children from low income families come true by buying the gifts they had asked for in their letters to the Three Wise Men and which otherwise they would not have received.
Promotion of youth employment: employability programs
Throughout 2019, NH Hotel Group has continued to develop international training and work experience programmes for young people at risk of exclusion and for disabled individuals at hotels in all its Business Units. In this way, the projects, which are part of the Community strategy, are also aligned with the Company’s commitment to SDG 8, “Decent work and economic growth”.
Youth unemployment in Spain, which is more significant in groups at risk of social exclusion, requires programmes focused on boosting the employability and social integration of young people.
Accordingly, 34 NH hotels in Spain have been involved in different programmes, with the help of almost 170 employees who have volunteered more than 7,200 hours to train 188 young people and pass on their enthusiasm and their experience in the hotel sector.
Coach Project:
The Coach Project is a corporate volunteering initiative that aims to improve the employability of young people at risk of social and employment exclusion through coaching and mentoring. In 2019, NH Hotel Group participated once again in a new edition of the Exit Foundation’s Coach Project, in which employees of the Southern Europe Business Unit participated as volunteers. The programme took place in Madrid and Barcelona, culminating in success as some young people are currently performing work practices in our hotels and will continue studying afterwards.
YOUTH CAREER INITIATIVE
In 2019, NH Hotel Group and several other hotel companies collaborated with the association ITP to create a goal in the hotel industry to impact collectively on young people at risk of exclusion through employment programmes.
Youth Career Initiative (YCI) is a high-impact international initiative to fight youth unemployment, consisting of an employment programme lasting from three to six months, to help young people professionally with the skills and the experience they need to take the first step in their career.
With the alliance developed with YCI in the Americas Business Unit, NH Hotel Group is the only Spanish multinational company committed to this innovative project, together with other leading hospitality companies, such as Intercontinental, Marriott and Starwood.
During 2019, it has celebrated its eleventh edition, the eighth in which NH Hotel Group participates. In it, 5 young people have received classes for 6 months given by the heads of different areas of the hotel, as well as training in the different departments.
Donation of furniture from refurbished hotels
As part of the repositioning plan and the refurbishment projects for the Company’s hotels, a coordination protocol is followed for donating withdrawn furniture, fixtures and household items to foundations and NGOs, social organizations and low-income families.
Accordingly, in 2019, each Business Unit has donated mattresses, duvets, blankets, toys, cleaning articles, sheets, towels, pillows and bedsteads, among other products.
Alliances with Foundations and NGOs
To develop social projects that can be replicated in all Business Units, NH Hotel Group believes in building responsible and successful alliances with solidarity partners. To that end, in each country where we are present, we have continued to work with different Foundations and NGOs, such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The collaboration between the two entities began in 2005 in Spain, The Netherlands and Italy, offering every facility so that children from all over the world who suffer from serious illnesses can have their wish come true.
In Benelux and Germany, the Company collaborates with hospitals and foundations such as the Ronald McDonald Foundation, with which it also participates in programmes centred on the wellbeing of families with sick children, providing them with a home when the foundation’s houses are full.