NH ROOM4 PEOPLE:
NH Hotel Group seeks to create a positive impact on the communities where it is present through key responsible alliances, solidarity projects and sponsorship.
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.
The main goal is to maintain active relations and cover the needs of each location where it is present through the business itself. NH Hotel Group believes in building responsible and successful alliances with solidarity partners in order to develop stable projects that can be replicated in all Business Units. The Company has therefore defined three lines of global action: Together with Love, Hotels with a Heart and Employability Programmes.
The pandemic brought worldwide tourism to a complete halt overnight. Millions of people lost the opportunity to explore different places and embrace different cultures and customs. In 2020, NH Hotel Group has had to survive in a situation of global crisis, which has not allowed the Company to operate normally. The closure of hotels, together with the social distance measures, have had a very significant impact on each of the three lines of social contribution. Accordingly, in 2021, NH Hotel Group will continue to strengthen its lines of action and its commitment to the most vulnerable, by creating value in the communities where it is present, as it has been doing up to now.
* 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.
NH RESPONSE
In 2020, NH Hotel Group decided to continue with the Together With Love (TWL) corporate volunteering programme, seeking new ideas and actions that could be compatible with the current situation. Aware of the significant impact that COVID-19 is having throughout the
world, NH Hotel Group managed to adapt to the “new” situation, knowing that hospitality and solidarity are more necessary than ever. For this reason, NH continued its corporate volunteering activity, involving all employees, including those affected by temporary furlough measures, applying at all times the necessary health and safety measures to keep all our team members safe. Our employees collaborated actively as volunteers in responsible projects and were encouraged to foster the Company’s citizenship mindset. A spirit of volunteering is instilled in them while contributing to the attainment of the SDG. A challenge that we face while assuring the health and safety of all our team members and the beneficiaries of these activities.
Due to the exceptional situation in which we find ourselves, the Company identified a series of initiatives at the outset to help governments, health authorities and social organisations to deal with the crisis. In this regard, it offered hotels to the authorities so that they could
be medicalised, accommodating 3,373 patients and thus helping to relieve the strain on hospitals. Hotels were also designated as special accommodation for 2,720 healthcare professionals.
Furthermore, almost 12,400 kg of food available after the closure of the hotels were donated to food banks and social canteens, as well as 30,000 amenities kits, 7,000 gloves, 6,000 shower caps, 2,000 trash bags, 55 beds and 600 blankets to health centres.
The Company joined in the #chefsforspain movement launched by chef José Andrés to deliver more than 120,000 meals through his World Central Kitchen foundation. NH Hotel Group participated by offering the use of the kitchens of the hotels Anantara Villa Padierna
(Marbella), NH Collection Eurobuilding (Madrid) and NH Collection Finisterre (A Coruña), where 138,759 meals were cooked to be donated among the most vulnerable groups during the crisis.
CORPORATE VOLUNTEERING: TOGETHER WITH LOVE
In 2020, under the motto “Together with Love”, NH Hotel Group held a corporate volunteering week at world level for the second time. This is a global initiative focused on sustainability and strengthening relations with the local communities where the Group is present, and all the Company’s teams were invited to take part. 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.
From the start of the pandemic, NH Hotel Group was aware of the need for food and basic products, and so it strove to help vulnerable families and others that, due to the current situation, had seen their income suddenly cut off and never thought that they would end up experiencing such a complicated situation.
With all the necessary safety measures and without endangering the health of its team members, NH Hotel Group launched the NH Runners initiative, aimed at all employees, to raise funds for meals through the kilometres completed by employee volunteers.
Our commitment to food donations still continues at present thanks to the 5,600 meals funded through this initiative. In the second week of June 2020, NH Hotel Group proposed the idea of running to contribute during the pandemic. All the Company’s employees (including those affected by temporary contract suspensions) had the option of donating the kilometres they had run for a week, with a conversion rate of 1km=1meal.
This volunteering initiative was very well received by all the employees, who enthusiastically took up the opportunity of helping the families most in need this year too, albeit adapted to this extraordinary situation, through remote volunteering and with the necessary safety measures.
CHRISTMAS SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGNS OF OUR NH VOLUNTEERS
Today more than ever, NH Hotel Group wishes to stay committed to its Responsible Business strategy, supporting the most vulnerable groups in society. Over the Christmas season, all Business Units have promoted corporate volunteering activities among their team
members as part of the Together with Love concept. At this moment in time when we are witnessing a serious worldwide health crisis, it has been more important than ever to show the hospitality and solidarity of our team members.
BU America:
NH Hotel Group Colombia and Ecuador have pledged to support and make life easier for its team members during these unprecedented times. Aware of the needs and how the current situation may have had effects on the daily life of our most vulnerable employees and
their families, the Company, leaders and collaborators, joined forces through their donations and made it possible to deliver non-perishable basic food to our co-workers for 3 months, as a sign of our affection and support.
Northern Europe BU:
In these challenging times of social distancing and working from home, the Northern Europe business unit wanted to encourage its team members to run in the “NH Santa Run for Charity” initiative. Employees were encouraged to find friends and family to sponsor them in order to obtain donations for the Ronald McDonald Foundation. Thanks to this initiative, they managed to raise €5,000 for the Foundation. With this donation, the foundation will be able to pay for 83 overnight stays for families with sick children who are receiving treatment in hospital.
Southern Europe BU:
Together with the NGO Music for Peace in Genoa, the team members of the NH Collection Genova Marina cooked dinner on December 26th for several homeless people. Volunteers from different departments prepared lunchboxes with a special meal for the most vulnerable, which were distributed at Porta Príncipe station in Genoa.
HQ – Donation to the Food Bank:
During the Christmas solidarity campaign and framed within the “Together With Love” initiative, NH Hotel Group decided to collaborate with Madrid’s Food Bank to collect food online through the organisation’s website. Since the start of the health crisis, the demand for food has increased by more than 40% and this is why it was decided to contribute to this Foundation. During the four weeks of online collection, a total of 715 kg. were obtained.
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 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 make the hotel a second home for them.
Due to the present health crisis, many of NH Hotel Group’s hotels have been closed for several months, and this is the reason why the number nights donated is much lower this year.
PROMOTION OF YOUTH EMPLOYMENT: EMPLOYABILITY PROGRAMMES
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.
In 2020, because of the pandemic, it has not been possible to carry out this initiative as the Company has had to prioritize the safety of all its employees and customers. All employability programmes were therefore cancelled this year.
However, NH Hotel Group continues committed to increasing the employability of this group and seeks to promote different projects for training, work experience and jobs for young people at risk of exclusion and with disabilities at hotels in all its Business Units once the status of the health crisis permits it and the risk of contagion is no longer present.
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”.
ALLIANCES WITH FOUNDATIONS AND NGOS
Local impact is achieved thanks to the creation of responsible alliances with foundations and NGOs, the collaboration of employee volunteers in responsible projects and the promotion of culture. 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 with this entity 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 Northern Europe 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 houses are full.
Another of the foundations we have been collaborating with for several years is the “Menudos Corazones” Foundation. In 2020, initiatives have been carried out remotely, to continue helping people with congenital heart disease and their families more than ever because now, for many of them, their needs are greater. One of these initiatives was the creation of a Storytelling video by employee volunteers. A good opportunity to tell children with heart problems their favourite tale or story.