DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND EQUALITY
279 | Inclusion is a Unicorn Part 2: ‘We are actually doing badly’
DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND EQUALITY
We’re trying something different today.
We’ve teamed up with a group called Next Generation in Lodging, a diverse team of mid-career hospitality professionals who want to have significant input into the future of the hospitality industry.
We’ve worked with them to produce and provide a platform for a panel discussion about diversity and inclusion in the hospitality industry.
We featured the Next Generation in Lodging co-founders in episode 275 that reported on the hacking of their Inclusion is a Unicorn Part 1 webinar on Zoom. We also explored the social awakening taking place throughout the country and the manifestation of inequality in the hospitality industry.
Today, we’re bringing you Inclusion is a Unicorn Part 2.
The returning panelists are Ashli Johnson, assistant dean at the University of Houston’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel & Restaurant Management in San Antonio, Texas, and founder of Hospitality Leaders of Today, a non-profit dedicated to identifying and developing minority leaders; Tejal Patel, founder, president and CEO of Neem Tree Hospitality in League City, Texas; and Aron LeFevre, director of human rights for World Pride: Copenhagen 2021.
The conversation is rich with honest sharing on issues the industry might view as sensitive or uncomfortable.
Resources and Links
- View the full multimedia report: Inclusion is a Unicorn, Part 2
- Ashli Johnson, assistant dean at the University of Houston’s Conrad N. Hilton College of Hotel & Restaurant Management
- Tejal Patel, founder, president and CEO of Neem Tree Hospitality
- Aron LeFevre, director of human rights for World Pride: Copenhagen 2021
DIVERSITY, INCLUSION AND EQUALITY
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337 | Open-and-Shut Cases: How hoteliers managed decisions to close or stay in business
More than 1,700 hotels in the U.S. closed in spring 2020 at the height of the coronavirus pandemic. At the end of August, 1,200 were closed, reported Kalibri Labs. Meantime, 840 new hotels opened last year and 900 are on track to open this year, according to Lodging Econometrics. Episode 337 of Lodging Leaders explores the challenges owners faced in reopening closed hotels as well as what owners and operators did to ramp up business at hotels that were at such low levels of occupancy, they might as well have been closed. We also feature owners who opened new properties during the pandemic. One owner we interviewed opened two new hotels while doing what it took to keep his existing properties in business. This report is part of our ongoing coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hospitality industry.
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336 | Never Forget: 20 years after 9/11, hotel industry veterans remember the impact of the terrorist attacks
As America approaches the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on its homeland, Lodging Leaders explores the impact 9/11 had on the U.S. travel sector. We feature hotel industry leaders who were on duty that fateful day and can recall the shock of the attacks, how they cared for frightened guests and how the event changed hotel operations. They also draw parallels to the coronavirus crisis and remind listeners of the resiliency of the nation’s hospitality industry.