HOTELS LAB
Violence and abuse is a serious problem globally and locally. National, state and territory definitions of domestic, family and sexualised violence and criminal codes vary, however violence and abuse is never acceptable in any community, family, institution, place or context.
Women and girls are disproportionately impacted by violence and abuse. "Climate change and slow environmental degradation exacerbate the risks of violence against women and girls due to displacement, resource scarcity and food insecurity and disruption to service provision for survivors." [UN Women]
There is no one preference or path for support. Every responder, community and industry matters. "Less than 40 per cent of the women who experience violence seek help of any sort. In the majority of countries with available data on this issue, among women who do seek help, most look to family and friends and very few look to formal institutions, such as police and health services. Fewer than 10 per cent of those seeking help reported to the police [11]." [UN Women]
In Australia, the Hotel and Accommodation Industry is an important responder in the ecosystem. 'The Accommodation Association represents over 5,000 businesses, providing 270,000 jobs, generating $12 billion economic benefit.' [aha.org.au]. The industry has a significant role to play in understanding and responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence.
Welcome to the Hotels Lab
The Hotels Lab is about understanding hotels as an important part of the ecosystem of responses to domestic, family and sexualised violence. The Hotels Lab makes use of the free (donated) insights and materials in Insight Exchange. These can be used to build on Hotels understanding of and responses to violence and abuse.
We invite Hotel Associations, Hotel Groups and Independent Hotels to explore:
(A) Hotel team are social responders.
(B) Hotels are places and spaces.
(C) Hotels are partners.
View and share 'Who Benefits? Who decides?' and 'Seeing Possibilities' to understand the problem of violence and who is in the picture.
Who benefits and who decides?
Who benefits from the status quo and who decides to keep things the same? We can all stand against violence and abuse from wherever we are in society.
View, share, embed ‘Who Benefits? Who Decides?’ (4mins)
Seeing Possibilities
What we understand about domestic, family and sexualised violence informs how we respond; it influences how we design and communicate about products, services and systems.
View, share, embed ‘Seeing Possibilities’ (6mins)
We invite Hotel Associations, Hotel Groups and Independent Hotels to explore and respond to these areas outlined below.
There are 6 examples to explore for action. The examples are not exhaustive. They can be explored in any sequence.
Taking action in response to these examples is both individual and collective work. Doing what we can as individuals in the spheres of responsibilities and possibilities we have, and doing what we can collectively to make a meaningful and lasting difference - upholding dignity, building on safety and justice.
Hotel team are social responders.
(1) Listening to lived experience insights is essential. In the 'listening' menu you can explore lived experience insights - voices of insight, voices about economic abuse and more.
For example: Laura was assaulted in the hotel room, Dorothy was reliant on the hotel to be able to get away discreetly and quickly with the children, Gemma's child was taken and taken to a hotel, Ruby was staying at a hotel the night before her wedding and concerned about marrying him. The refuge couldn’t accommodate Jessica and her children so they were temporarily housed in a hotel, and Mishka was lured to a hotel and was held captive for nine hours.
(2) What we understand about domestic, family and sexualised violence informs how we respond. In the 'learning' menu you can be building on individual and collective understanding of violence and abuse through the introductory and foundations modules, Hotel team members can view the digital content independently and/or view these together as a team.
a) View/share/embed the Introductory Module: Hotel Industry (50mins).
b) Teams can also make a team booking to participate together in the 2hr virtual facilitated Responders Lab session. Individuals can book into the Responders Lab scholarship with cross-sector peers.
Hotels are places and spaces.
(3) Support each other as colleagues and peers through workplace responses.
a) Review and uplift your workplace responses using the Guide: Uplifting workplace responses.
b) Widen the support options you make available through the workplace to build on safety and wellbeing.
(4) Using the 'exploring' menu you can be supporting guests, and teams with discreet self-service access (in-person and online) to materials they may rely on or need for supporting others.
Make the materials openly and discreetly available through these actions below.
a) Review and uplift your intranet (or equivalent) for staff supports using the Workplace Intranet Content Guide.
b) Review and uplift your member platforms - supporting guests in what they can find, use and keep for future use or to share forward to people who rely on their support.
c) Make the materials available in print using the small landing cards with static QR codes (see donated print stock)
Hotels are partners.
(5) Support guests, partners, suppliers and collaborators in their understanding of and responses to violence and abuse.
a) Review and uplift your website using the insights shared in the Guidance (website content and functions).
b) Explore and implement ten ways to share Insight Exchange.
(6) Exchange insights together by hosting a Creating Conversations sessions - designed to create opportunities to participate in cross-sector conversations - listening and responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence.
a) Book to be a host of a Creating Conversations session (see booking form below).
Invitees: People who have shared into and/or made use of Insight Exchange materials have said who they wish had access to these insights and materials to shape their responses. When thinking about your invitees - explore the wish list.
Are these services/organisations in your local ecosystem? Who is in your local ecosystem and not on the list?
CREATING CONVERSATIONS
Creating Conversations - An opportunity for hotels (in Australia) to host and lead invitations.
Creating Conversations sessions are designed to create opportunities to participate in cross-sector conversations - listening and responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence.
Each session (3hrs in person) invites you to consider how your work (and our collective efforts) respond to people who are silent about, or silenced by, violence and abuse.
The conversations are facilitated by the Insight Exchange team. The conversations draw from Insight Exchange insights and resources. At each session we also feature the voices of insight collection as a mobile gallery.
Choose one of the 2025 cities & dates for booking to host a Creating Conversations (in Australia). The hosting terms are in the form. When we receive your booking form we will be in contact to confirm the date and to coordinate preparation.
Note: The opportunity to book to host a Creating Conversation in 2025 will close at the end of 2024 and any un-booked dates will be repurposed into other industries.