Hospitality Helps Asks For Hotels To Provide Temporary Hotel Rooms For Ukrainian Refugees
Date: March 2022
Location: Berlin, Bratislava, Brno, Bucharest, Budapest, Chisinau, Cluj-Napoca, Cracow, Debrecen, Katowice, Lublin, Munich, Prague, Vienna, Warsaw…and elsewhere!
What did they say: We connect families on the run from the war in Ukraine with hotels around Europe that want to help and provide free stays.
Main photo: The plight of Ukrainian refugees
The #HospitalityHelps initiative has one single goal: providing temporary hotel accommodation to Ukrainian residents, who are forced to leave their homes as a result of the war.
To join the initiative, hotels can contribute hotel room nights by clicking here.
We connect families on the run from the war in Ukraine with hotels around Europe that want to help and provide free stays.
Free stays in hotels. Maximum five nights. Currently focused on key cities in Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia – with more to come shortly. Requirements: Ukrainian passport (alternatively proof of residency in Ukraine) at check-in.
The iniative has been put togther by 4Hoteliers, using Hotel Swaps to co-ordinate their efforts.
Another international campaign has been launched by Stay the Night calling on hospitality companies to help Ukrainian refugees by hosting those fleeing conflict. The UN estimates that over 100,000 Ukrainians have already been displaced as a result of the Russian invasion and that number is set to grow in the coming weeks and months.
In response to this unfolding crisis, the Hospitality for Ukraine campaign has been launched by marketing agency Stay the Night and content creator Kash Bhattacharya from the BudgetTraveller.
The campaign is calling on hotels, hostels and other accommodation providers to open their doors to Ukrainian refugees.
Companies can register here to join a database which will then be published on a dedicated platform and shared with relevant organisations supporting refugees on the ground.
Feeding Ukraine
World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit food relief organization operated by chef Jose Andrés, announced that it would be on the ground in Poland within hours of the Ukraine invasion. The organisation is currently situated near a “24-hour pedestrian border crossing” in Poland, and feeding thousands of Ukrainians as they flee the country. In Korczowa, the organisation teamed up with food truck Oh My Ramen, which is operated by two Ukrainians who live in Poland, to serve hot meals at an accommodation center set up to house refugees, some of whom walked hours after fleeing their homes. Upon arriving in the Polish village of Medyka, World Central Kitchen served upwards of 4,000 meals in just 18 hours.
World Central Kitchen has also set up shop in Odessa, Ukraine, partnering with chef Aleksander Yourz of Yourz Space Bistro. There, Yourz and World Central Kitchen volunteers are preparing thousands of meals for people unable to leave Odesa, along with those fighting against Russian troops. World Central Kitchen is currently in the process of dispatching volunteers to Romania, Moldova, Slovakia, and Hungary, all near Ukraine, to provide additional support.
And our friends from the Meetings sector in Europe have done their bit…MEETING NEEDS has this week agreed to donate £10,000 to The Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal organised by the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC). More than a million refugees have left homes and jobs and are trying to get out of the country, carrying only the clothes and belongings they can carry.
The cash will be used for essential hygiene supplies, food and blankets. £10,000 can provide essential hygiene supplies for 1,000 people for one month, blankets for 800 families or feed 200 families for a month.
Meeting Needs chair Jason Wilcock said, “The DEC is forecasting more than four million Ukraine citizens will be displaced and most of these will be women and children so we decided to move swiftly with an extraordinary meeting and make an early donation on behalf of the events industry, so that funds can be delivered quickly by the committee where it is most needed.”
….and our friends at IHM, publisher of Serviced Apartment News reports:
In response to the crisis, numerous travel and hospitality businesses have pledged to help. Operators such as trainline Eurostar and airline Wizz Air have pledged thousands of free seats to Ukrainian refugees. OTAs such as Booking.com have also donated to charities supporting on the ground. Glenn Fogel, CEO and president of Booking Holdings, said: “Booking Holdings recently donated $1 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross to assist with their aid efforts, and we will be matching every employee donation across Booking Holdings and our brands. As the situation evolves, we will continue to explore more ways to support the Ukrainian people.”
Whereas journeys into Ukraine and particularly Russia are halted, accommodation providers will play a vital role in housing international charity associations and journalists over the coming weeks and months.
Charitable efforts of travel and hospitality companies
• Airbnb has pledged to offer free, short-term housing to up to 100,000 refugees fleeing Ukraine through its non-profit organisation Airbnb.org, with stays being funded by Airbnb, donors to the Airbnb.org Refugee Fund, and host donations through Airbnb.org. The company has previously worked to provide free, temporary housing to refugees in Afghanistan, Africa, the Middle East, Central and South America, and other regions.
• Hopper is planning to free up $50,000 USD through its in-app credit system to individuals who are leaving Ukraine and require temporary accommodations in neighbouring countries. The booking credit will be available for individuals who have been residing in Ukraine and are seeking assistance with stays in Europe, either at hotels or home rentals. Refugees seeking accommodation assistance should fill out the intake form here.
• Guest house and holiday rental network, Gîtes de France, has relaunched its Initiatives platform to collect funds for those in need of help in Ukraine. One hundred per cent of the donations collected will be allocated to a charity/humanitarian organisation on the ground – donations can be made here.
• NUMA Group, a short-term rental / hotel technology provider and driver of the “commercial living” asset class, is offering accommodation to refugees free of charge at its locations in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, Florence, Milan, Barcelona, Madrid, Vienna, and Prague.
The group is also supporting German industry initiative Everybedhelps – initiated by Nena Apartments’ CEO Florian Wichelmann – along with ADAPT Apartments Berlin GmbH, ipartment GmbH, limehome, Livinghotels, Primestar Group, STAYERY., The Circus Hostel and Vilhelm7 Berlin Residences. To get involved, contact [email protected] or visit gut.org, a non-profit working group of betterplace.org, that is in direct contact with refugees.
• Rentals to Rescue is a new initiative being launched by the podcast partners at Hospitality.FM, involving operators, vendors and guests of the US short-term rental industry. The initiative is seeking to raise funds to provide accommodation in neighbouring countries for Ukrainian refugees. Learn more and support at the GoFundMe page.
• Alternative accommodation marketplace HomeToGo has launched its Ukraine Relief page, which provides resources for those looking for shelter, those who can offer temporary housing and those who have additional resources to offer. There’s information available for Germany, Poland, UK and the US. HomeToGo will also donate and double all contributions made by its team directly to organisations providing relief to Ukraine amid the humanitarian crisis.
• Hospitality cloud management company Mews is supporting the international community in three ways.
1) Matching donations which it will top up with €100,000 to People in Need, Ukrainian Red Cross, and World Central Kitchen. 2) Introducing automatic time off and salary advances for employees who need to arrange assistance for their families. 3) Allowing employees to volunteer on projects, in tech or in another field.
• Hospitality and tourism consulting firm, PKF hospitality group has launched “Hospitality Helps”, a campaign calling on hotels to host refugees from Ukraine. A corresponding online booking platform is now active, where hotel owners and operators can enter free capacities and refugees can book. PKF is seeking rooms specifically in Austria, Czechia, Germany, Hungary, Moldova, Poland, Romania and Slovakia.
• Digital guest guidebook Touch Stay – which has team members in Kyiv and Lviv in Ukraine – is guiding its community to donate directly to the accounts set up by the Bank of Ukraine to support either the Armed Forces or the humanitarian efforts. It is supporting the “Humanitarian Assistance to Ukrainians Affected by Russia’s Aggression”, an account opened by The National Bank of Ukraine [NBU] for charitable contributions to help Ukrainians affected by Russian aggression.
• Private members’ club Soho House is supporting UNICEF and Cook For Ukraine – a global food and drink campaign set up by Instagram food influencer Clerkenwell Boy, which has already raised more than £40,000. Those wishing to get involved and donate can order ‘invisible pierogies’ – a Ukrainian speciality – from Soho House menus in March.
THPT Comment: No doubt there are/will be more initiatives being launched by hotel chains and agencies…Bless them for stepping up in another world crisis, as we saw with the Covid pandemic…and Please Tell your Russian clients/hoteliers to bombard Putin with messages…to Desist!
First Seen: 4Hoteliers and Hospitality Net and Serviced Apartment News
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