HANYC recently partnered with the nonprofit organization, Businesses Ending Slavery and Trafficking (BEST), in order to provide our members with free human trafficking awareness training that will help our member hotels be able to recognize, prevent, and report potential human trafficking activity. Human trafficking happens so frequently that it is the second most profitable criminal activity in the world. And the hospitality industry must be vigilant to report suspected trafficking because hotels are often the venue of choice for traffickers to carry out their illegal activity.
The ramifications for human trafficking occurring on a hotel property can be severe because the trafficking industry is inherently violent. According to a 2001 report published by the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, which studied the sex trafficking of women in the United States, many of the women studied—86%—had been subjected to physical violence, and 65% had been threatened with a weapon. If assault happens on a hotel property, it can not only damage the hotel brand, but it can also expose the hotel management company to potential lawsuits.
To protect both human trafficking victims and our member brands, HANYC is encouraging our members to administer BEST’s free Inhospitable to Human Trafficking training for hotel staff. This training offers the most comprehensive and validated human trafficking awareness training available for hotel employees. It is available online in English and Spanish, and includes engaging video to help teach hotel employees the warning signs of potential human trafficking activity and what they can do if they suspect trafficking. Employees will hear from hospitality professionals as well as human trafficking survivors in BEST’s video-based training, which will help hotel employees understand that human trafficking is not a victimless crime.