With Thanksgiving and the rest of the holiday season just around the corner, it’s the perfect time to start thinking about giving back to the community. While the holidays are a great time to start thinking about ways to support your community, giving back never goes out of season. There are many initiatives hotels can undertake at any point in the year to show they care about the local people, community, and environment.

Feeding Hope in Your Community

Everyone looks forward to all the delicious meals that come during the holiday season, but what about those who can’t afford them? Hotels can step up and host food drives where people bring in non-perishable items such as canned goods, pasta, cereal, and more. These items can be donated to a local food bank and given to those in need.

If you want to get your hotel even more involved, look into partnering with a local restaurant to host a dinner for families in need. You have the space, and the restaurant has the food: a perfect match! Being that it’s near Thanksgiving, it would be a great time to host an event like this.

Keeping it Green and Clean

No matter where you live, your hotel can take steps to make your community a little greener and a little cleaner. One way to do this is by hosting a clean-up at a local beach or park. Volunteers can sign up to come out and pick up litter for a few hours. You can even get staff involved, so everyone feels like they’re making a worthwhile contribution.

If your hotel is near a beach, nature preserve, or something similar, look into supporting initiatives that support marine or local wildlife and habitats. This effort shows your hotel is investing in the community and the future.

While we’re on the subject, your hotel can help lessen the impact on the environment and give to those in need. Donate unused shampoo bottles and soap bars to a local homeless shelter instead of throwing them away to take up space in a landfill. It’s a win-win situation!

Supporting the Arts

There’s no doubt that your community has its fair share of artists. From painters to poets to musicians, there is no shortage of creatively inclined people. Your hotel can help support them by offering space for them to showcase their work. This could look like turning an event space into an art gallery for visual artists to showcase their work or hosting an open mic night for poets and musicians to get their turn in the spotlight.

Not to mention that guests will love the chance to experience these events. Whether they’re free or your hotel charges an entry fee, these events will entertain guests, and you will be creating a memorable experience for them. If you do charge a fee, consider giving a share to the artists for their hard work or donating the proceeds to the art department of a local school in the spirit of further helping the community.

Getting Guests Involved

Guests want to support businesses that do good things within the community. Making guests a part of your charity and service takes it a step further and makes them feel like giving you their business is positively impacting the world.

One way to get guests involved is by donating to one of three pre-selected charities that a guest can pick from when they stay. Giving a choice helps guests feel like their decision matters. Donations can be as much as you want to give, but keep guests informed of how much an impact their stay is making.

Tying it back to food, you can also involve your guests in giving back by donating a meal to someone in need for each night a guest stays in your hotel. This is a passive way to involve the guest as they don’t have to do anything besides stay at your property and enjoy their time, but it still gives them the feeling that they’re making a difference. Plus, this initiative may encourage them to spend another night!

Getting the Word Out

As briefly mentioned before, guests want to patronize businesses that positively impact the community around them. This is especially true for younger generations like Gen Z. They want to feel like their money is going to a good cause. But your hotel could do all the good in the world, and no one would know about it if you didn’t market it.

Posting your hotel’s efforts and events on social media is a great way to showcase how you’re helping the community. Snap a few pics at an event or take a picture of all the donations you collected and take a moment to share on your social pages. 

Not only does this help make future guests aware of the positive impact of your hotel, but you can also use social media to get the word out about these events. People will need to know when and where these events are and what they need to do to help.

Travel Media Group can help your hotel spread the word about these initiatives and market them on social media. With consistent posts of up to 5 per week and targeted ads, you can ensure that your message gets out to the right people. TMG’s actionable posts can help your hotel secure more bookings and increase engagement. Don’t wait any longer – connect with Travel Media Group today and learn more about TMG’s social media solutions!