​​This week, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) teamed up with Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST) to inspire more hotel owners to offer BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training. The two organizations launched a new social media campaign that encourages AAHOA members to share a photo of themselves or staff members holding up their Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training completion certificate. The organizations hope to shine a spotlight on the importance of anti-trafficking training for the hotel industry and inspire more hoteliers to participate.

Anti-trafficking training is crucial in the hotel industry. Traffickers will go to great lengths to go unnoticed. For example, some have been known to sneak victims into hotels by passing them off as family members or by bringing them in through side doors. They do this to avoid getting caught. To help spot this kind of dodgy activity, it is important that all hotel employees, including front desk clerks and housekeepers, be trained to notice the warning signs of sex trafficking. BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking trains hotel employees on what to look for to notice suspicious situations, and report suspicions to managers. Managers are given in-depth training on how to respond.

AAHOA and BEST hope that the awareness campaign will boost the number of employees who receive anti-trafficking training, aid more hotel owners in protecting their business from illegal trafficking activity, help more trafficking victims to escape exploitation, and ensure that more hotels become places that truly are inhospitable to human trafficking.

For information on how to get BEST’s Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training for your hotel staff, visit: training.bestalliance.org.

Many employees in the hospitality industry speak Spanish as their primary language, yet training materials are often administered in English. In order to better serve the needs of the hotel industry, BEST has just launched a Spanish version of its valuable Inhospitable to Trafficking Training (ITT). This new Spanish version of ITT will be valuable in reaching more hotel employees and training them to be aware of the warning signs of a human trafficking situation occurring at their hotel. ITT explains how hotel employees can identify, safely intervene, and report potential human trafficking activities. Often Spanish speaking employees are on the front lines of noticing a potential sex trafficking situation occurring at a hotel, so the new Spanish version of ITT is vital, and will greatly benefit the hospitality industry.

The Spanish version of ITT was developed when BEST recognized a need for it while working with the Snohomish County Lodging Association (SCLA) to implement ITT training throughout its member hotels. The SCLA explained there is a sizable Spanish speaking workforce inside their member hotels and having training available in Spanish would be valuable. BEST submitted a proposal request to the board of the SCLA, requesting they fund the work of translating ITT into Spanish.

The request was approved, and BEST was allocated $5,000 to fund the Spanish translation project. Shawn Walker, Vice President of Operations and Human Resources at 360 Hotel Group in Lynnwood, was a strong advocate for ITT being translated to Spanish. “On behalf of hoteliers across the County, I want to send a huge THANK YOU to the Snohomish County Lodging Association. I am proud that the Board of Directors and general membership passionately embraced stepping forward to be BEST’s first language translation sponsor. With their vision and support, BEST has been able to fully translate their training materials into Spanish. A project that will benefit all of Washington,” Walker said. “As hoteliers we are critically aware of the role each of us and our hotels must play in supporting awareness and training. We also understand that in order to make hotels truly ‘Inhospitable to Trafficking’ we will need 100 percent of our team members on board. This starts with communication and training for everyone. And when we can communicate in someone’s native language, especially on a deeply emotional subject like human trafficking, we create better understanding, connection, and trust. This gives all of us the greatest opportunity to have our teams recognize and report situations that could make a huge difference in someone’s life.” 

Thanks to the SCLA’s keen foresight to tackle this need in the industry, Spanish ITT training is now available for all the hotel clients BEST serves. BEST would also like to thank the Snohomish County Tourism Bureau, and Executive Director, Amy Spain, for supporting the Spanish translation project, and for helping to implement ITT training across Snohomish County.