Book rooms. Change lives.
That’s the motto of Hotels for Hope, an organization that helps meeting planners, event organizers, and individual travellers book rooms at hotels, while simultaneously raising money for charities that make a difference in the lives of children.
The way it works is this: when you book a room at a hotel through Hotels for Hope, the hotel contributes $1 per consumed room night, which Hotels for Hope then matches dollar for dollar. The client (such as YACC) then chooses who to donate the money to from a list of children’s charities supported by Hotels for Hope.
YACC first heard about Hotels for Hope through one of our past staff members, Mike Lang. Mike was at a Young Adult Alliance (YAA) meeting and met Kerri Morgan, the Global Account Manager for Hotels for Hope. She had been managing all of the logistics for the YAA’s annual meeting for a couple of years and said that she would be happy to help YACC with their annual Survivor Conference as well. Up until that point, Karine had been managing all of the logistics related to the conference venue (gathering quotes from hotels, choosing a hotel, working out the contract details, etc.), in addition to all of the other event details (registration, programming, etc.). The idea of having someone handle the event booking was exciting–especially when it also involved the philanthropic bonus of helping another charity!
Karine and I set up a phone meeting with Kerri and learned more about how the partnership could work. We were immediately impressed with Kerri’s enthusiasm and expertise. She had years of experience in the industry and was able to apply this to ensure the best prices and services from hotels. Kerri helped us to secure the Novotel Toronto Center for our Localife Leadership training in June 2012 and the Radisson Admiral Toronto Harbourfront for our Survivor Conference 2012 at great prices.
It has been an absolute pleasure working with Kerri on these events. She is very professional, but also very friendly and pleasurable to work with. It has been a real gift to be able to hand over this time-consuming responsibility to someone we trust, so that we have more time to dedicate to the programming side of our events. She has done a great job of collecting quotes, helping us choose the best fit, and helping us finalize some of the finer details of the contract. It is hard to believe that such a valuable service is provided at no cost to us! Hotels for Hope is paid through the hotels, so this new partnership allows us to dedicate more time and resources to the young adults we serve.
We are very thankful for Kerri and Hotels for Hope and look forward to continuing to work with them in the future!
Please visit hotelsforhope.org or email Kerri Morgan at [email protected] for more information.
