Corporate social responsibility is a requirement to attract not only increasingly aware guests, but also employees who want to work for companies that are responsible members of their communities.

　　Corporate social responsibility is no longer just nice to have — it is a requirement to attract not only increasingly aware guests, but also employees who want to work for companies that are responsible members of their communities.

　　Hyatt Hotels Corp. understands this new reality, which helped prompt the evolution of the company’s Global Month of Community Service. Now in its third year, the month — taking place in April this year — has given Hyatt properties worldwide a chance to volunteer in their local areas. This year, the initiative also includes a day of service in Chicago on April 27 in conjunction with Starbucks as well as a social media component that gives associates and guests another way to participate.

　　HOTELS spoke with Brigitta Witt, vice president of corporate social responsibility for Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, about the significance of the Global Month of Community Service and how its importance might continue to grow.

                                     Brigitta Witt

        HOTELS: Talk about the day of service that Hyatt is hosting with Starbucks in Chicago.

　　Brigitta Witt: It’s going to be a really fun event. We’re focusing on one community on the South Side. We’re really focusing our efforts on three things: revitalizing a local school, revitalizing a park in that area — we’re partnering with Chicago Cares for those two things — and we’re working with Rebuilding Together to rebuild some homes in that community. The idea is to have a deep impact in a few key areas that are going to make a difference to different constituencies in that community.

　　HOTELS: How does the Starbucks partnership come into play?

　　Witt: We worked hand-in-hand with Starbucks to plan this event. We’ve identified the locations together, we’ve identified the projects together and Starbucks will also invite their own partners in the stores as well as their customers. It’s combining forces to maximize our impact and bringing a lot of different people together, which I think will be really fun and interesting.

　　HOTELS: What are your expectations regarding possible future collaboration with Starbucks?

　　Witt: We share a lot of the same communities around the world, and we probably share many of the same customers. In fact, in the U.S. we serve Starbucks coffee in our hotels. We have an existing business relationship with them, and this is a great opportunity for us to deepen that relationship in a lot of the communities that we share, not just in the U.S. but around the world. There’s a lot of overlap and a lot of synergy.

　　HOTELS: So are you envisioning other events like the day of service going forward?

　　Witt: I think that’s probably a great place to start. We’re just in the beginning stages of talking about this. I think what we’re really focusing on is this idea of the power of the collective. What can two companies do together, and how can you magnify your impact through collaboration? There are a lot of opportunities. This is the start.

　　HOTELS: Can you provide a few examples of what hotels worldwide have done or are planning to do for the Global Month of Service?

　　Witt: Because the needs of our communities are so different around the world, it’s exciting because we see a really broad range of events popping up. For example, in London, both of our hotels there have an existing relationship with organizations that help homeless people get back on their feet. At the Andaz they’ll be doing everything from providing culinary classes to a number of other career-oriented things. Our hotels in Hong Kong have in the past collaborated with an organization that helps underprivileged kids and kids with disabilities — they tutor them, they mentor them and they bring gifts. Our hotels in Boston last year collaborated on the Special Olympics at Harvard University. There’s a broad range of areas where our hotels focus based on what their associates are passionate about and the needs of the community.

　　HOTELS: What can you tell me about the social campaign in conjunction with this initiative? What was the rationale behind taking it social, and what are the goals in this regard?

　　Witt: It’s our first year that we’ve added this component to our Global Month of Service. There are a few different reasons why we are really excited about this approach. Just the nature of our business means not every employee in our hotels is going to be able to participate in the day of service. We want to give everybody that wants the opportunity the chance to contribute to their community in some way. The social media campaign, which we’re calling Commit to Thrive, is a way for them to say, yes, I will give back to my community by taking that pledge, by making that commitment through an online shareable badge. For anybody that makes a commitment to having a positive impact in their communities, Hyatt will donate one book to kids in need. It’s a way for us to build on this idea of amplifying our impact. We want to give people one more opportunity to make a difference.

　　HOTELS: On a broader level, what is the ROI for a project like the Global Month of Service?

　　Witt: That is such an interesting question, because how do you put a price on instilling pride in your employees for what they’re doing? How do you put a price on what you are able to do in a community? When a kid goes to school on the day after a service event like this and the classroom is completely brightened up? How can you truly evaluate the impact on a penny-for-penny basis of our guests who are given the opportunity to participate in a day of service? I think so much of this is an intangible benefit especially when it comes to the way our employees view Hyatt as a place to work.

　　HOTELS: Do you have research that backs up the need to do something like this?

　　Witt: We have data, but we also have a lot of anecdotal evidence. It was an interesting change for us about five or six years ago when we started getting feedback from our directors of HR and our recruiters in the field who said prospective employees are starting to interview us about what Hyatt is doing from a corporate responsibility perspective. We know that it’s extremely important for especially the up-and-coming generation that they work for a company that views their business as an investment not only in the physical structure of the hotel but in the communities that are vital to the health of our business.

　　Especially in the U.S., almost 100% of our corporate clients ask us about our environmental commitments and our social commitments and activities. We know it’s very important to them as they evaluate who they’re giving their business to.

　　HOTELS: What are your expectations for how this initiative might continue to evolve and grow going forward?

　　Witt: Given how quickly we’re expanding as a company in a lot of new markets, the goal is to really build this into a month that collectively energizes not only our associates but the people that stay in our hotels and the business partners we have in our communities to really give back to the places they live and work either by directly participating in events that Hyatt puts together or by realizing there’s a huge opportunity and a huge need in a lot of the communities where all of us live and work. It’s looking at this as an opportunity to galvanize a broader group of people.