HOTELS LAB

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 responders. (B) Hotels are places and spaces. (C) Hotels are partners.

We invite Hotel Associations, Hotel Groups and Independent Hotels to explore and respond to these areas outlined below.

We invite you to explore the Futures Framework.

Following this, 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 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, 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 Any Responder Module (48mins)

b) Teams can also make a team booking to participate together in the 2hr virtual facilitated Responders Lab session.

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. Click on the tile below to open My Support Options - a menu designed to share examples of what victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexualised violence have wished for and/or asked for from their workplace.

(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 - Add or embed any insight Exchange materials. Use the PDFs for your Learning Management System if you can’t embed or add links directly to you LMS).

b) Review and uplift your member platforms - Add or embed any Insight Exchange materials from the Exploring menu to support guests today and over time.

c) Make the materials freely and discreetly available in print - Order free (donated) Insight Exchange landing cards to share with team members, peers and local partners from across hotel businesses and networks etc. Use the short order form on the print to share page.

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 ‘’Creating Possibilities – Digitally’ (See section in ‘Choice and Control’ for considerations).

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 conversations - listening and responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence.

Click on the coloured tiles below (opens in a lightbox) featuring examples of responses from participants involved in Creating Conversations sessions in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Palm Cove, Gold Coast, Karratha, Geraldton & Mt Isa.

Creating Conversations PARTICIPANT INSIGHTS (Insight Exchange)

Title Slide

“Previously if someone told me they were experiencing violence or abuse, I would have just referred them on. Next time I am going to stop and listen and ask, 'what else can I do to support you?' first.”

Participant Insights

“Before I had read the ‘TALK’ resource I would have jumped in and unwittingly reinforced all the myths about disclosure.”

Participant Insights

“I walked away changed and eager to learn more, I'm glad you passed along those resources so I can extend them to my network.”

Participant Insights

“It was an absolute pleasure to be there, I’m still processing all the discussions! It was wonderful to engage with such a diverse group and feel the passion - it has reminded me the positive impact that these sessions can have to sustain and inspire us.”

Participant Insights

“I was grateful to be able to participate and listen to different stories and memories shared by the group. The resources are really amazing, and we will be working on discussions within our business to bring them to light to continue to support our colleagues.”

Participant Insights

“It was very moving and great to be so close to victim-survivors experiences and their wisdom, as our work in agencies can often feel very abstracted.”

Participant Insights

“It was really insightful and so productive having conversations that stemmed from such thought provoking, nuanced and considered resources.”

Participant Insights

“I value your resources and wish I had known about these when I was in my past relationship. I have learnt so much in these sessions and will use my learnings every day to help others and even myself in times when I retell my lived experience.”

Participant Insights

“It was incredible to meet and connect with so many people who brought a lot to the table with their rich experiences, learnings, and insights.”

Participant Insights

“To meet and discuss with people with such diverse backgrounds relating to domestic and family abuse was simply an immense eye opener and unforgettable experience.”

Participant Insights

“The session made me aware of the many ways in which people choose to use violence and abuse, beyond physical assaults. I had not previously stopped to think about things like economic or systems abuse.”

Participant Insights

“Since attending the session, I am more tuned in to things… like I’m even noticing controlling behaviours in relationships with friends and family members.”

Participant Insights

“The feedback has been overwhelming positive with messages of support and ideas of what we can do next.”

Participant Insights

“Knowing that all of this information comes from the voices of people with lived experience makes it so much more important to know than I first thought.”

Participant Insights

“I think it is important to share this material with our teams, in regards to how we can make people more confident to disclose. By talking about this work, by sharing these resources, we can set the scene for our teams to know that that as leaders, we are here.”

Participant Insights

“I can, in my role, share this material digitally and I will do that.”

Participant Insights

“We often go to police when there is a crisis, but what happens when they don't do anything, or say there is not enough for them to do anything…Can we go to them proactively and share this ...maybe even inviting them to look at this material with us.”

Participant Insights

“The session was powerful. It has planted important seeds for continued conversations and actions across our hotels.”

Participant Insights

“Today’s session reinforced the idea that hotels are more than places of service. Our teams are social responders, and every interaction has the potential to contribute to someone’s safety, dignity, and recovery.”

Participant Insights

“It is a reminder that every person has a story and that we need to listen without judgement.”

Participant Insights

“A victim of violence requested a room to be in away from her partner. We gave her a room alone for the next couple of days. But when it was time for them both to check out, after all that, she left with him. I was feeling like 'was that worth all the effort to keep her safe?’ But now when I think of that, I know that we did the right thing ...we responded to what she needed at the time.”

Participant Insights

“This has broadened my understanding of what constitutes violence and abuse – it’s so much more than physical assaults.”

Participant Insights

“I don’t think that our current support options for victim-survivors’ are known widely enough…we need to communicate these more and at all levels of the organisation.”

Participant Insights

“Reflecting on what we have learnt today, I am going to follow up and check in on people if we have referred them to other services – I’ll be asking, how did that go, was it useful, how else can I help?”

Participant Insights

“I am thinking that we need to ‘look at the familiar differently’ – just like we do when we look at how can we improve our guests’ journey – maybe we can create a ‘check in’ with staff periodically to give people an opportunity to tell us how they are travelling, if they want to.”

Participant Insights

“When reading this resource, it made me think that it is important to not make assumptions about the choices someone makes. When a person in the hotel might ask for help, it’s what they need there and then. I shouldn't assume that what they need won't change, because it does.”

Participant Insights

“I was really struck by the statistics - that so few victim-survivors actually go to police or to a formal responder. It really challenges my perception.”

Participant Insights

“When responding to domestic violence, we need to rethink our solution focused approach – we need a real gear change, to just first listen to people’s experiences and then be guided by the victim-survivor.”

Participant Insights

“This made me reflect on the many reasons why, in the past, people who I knew were experiencing violence, choose not to speak up about it in the workplace. My offers to help were declined and I had to reconcile within myself that ensuring they kept their job at the hotel was in itself, an important support.”

Participant Insights

“It’s not about us influencing victim-survivors’ decisions – it’s about following their lead – we need to support them where they are at. It is their journey not ours.”

Participant Insights

“We need to be showing victim- survivors that we stand with them – not only in a time of crisis, but by calling out below the line or sexist comments in the tearoom, in meetings or in any interactions. If we don’t respond to that, why would victim – survivors trust we will stand with them.”

Participant Insights

“We want to create an environment that allows people to speak up if they choose to.”

Participant Insights

“It’s not what we do as managers or staff when there is an issue or a crisis, it’s what we do and how we do it all of the time that matters. Trust is built in the everyday interactions.”

Participant Insights

“It’s about being ok with silence…people will come to or share more with us if they choose to.”

Participant Insights

“Sometimes it is difficult when reporting concerns (to Police). The response is often that there ‘is no evidence’ or ‘that nothing serious has happened. ‘ What I am thinking about now is including in my call to Police, that we are calling because we are concerned and we want to prevent something from happening. We need the Police to follow our lead too.”

Participant Insights

“It is important to be relational all the time as Managers, to be genuinely interested in our team members…that way we are demonstrating that we are approachable and can be attentive to things big or small, and not only in a moment of crisis.”

Participant Insights

“I think this opportunity needs to be offered to all leaders in the business, if not mandatory.”

Participant Insights

“I am aware of the welfare and self-care of our staff. This is important in being able to be present in responding to others. Sometimes we just don’t know if they will be OK when they leave us…we keep thinking about if they are OK.”

Participant Insights

“I wish I had known more about all of this and had access to these materials when I previously worked in hotels in regional areas and in cities.”

Participant Insights

“We need to check back in with people to see how they are going – is there anything else I can support with? Was the referral to the support service or EAP useful?”

Participant Insights

Creating Conversations sessions are designed to create opportunities to participate in cross-sector conversations - listening and responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence. The conversations draw from Insight Exchange insights and resources. Each session invites you to consider how your work (and our collective efforts) respond to people who are silent about, or silenced by, violence and abuse. There is no one preference or path for support. Every responder, community and industry matters. www.insightexchange.net/creating-conversations/

Back Cover Page

a) Book to be a host of a Creating Conversations session (see information and 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 conversations - listening and responding to domestic, family and sexualised violence.

Creating Conversation sessions are free (donated) sessions in two formats:

City Sessions are In-person (3hrs) (Featuring the Voices of Insight collection gallery)
Regional and Rural Sessions are Virtual (2hrs)

The conversations are a way to bring together leaders, team members, peers and local partners from across hotel businesses and networks (General Managers, Food & Beverage, Housekeeping, Apartments & Realty, HR etc.)

Each session 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. Each session features lived experience insights from peoples experiences of violence and abuse shared through a variety of mediums - animations, booklets, de-identified insights & accompanying artworks and free (donated) digital resources you can use and share ongoingly.

Sessions also include insights and reflections about hotels as important responders in the ecosystem - the responses of individuals and teams, hotels as places and spaces, hotels as central connections with local businesses, services and suppliers.

You can read about these sessions held in the the FY24/25 Engagement Report and on the Creating Conversations page.

In FY24/25 sessions held include:

July 2024 (Melbourne)
September 2024 (Melbourne)
October 2024 (Sydney)
March 2025 (Gold Coast)
April 2025 (Perth)
May 2025 (Adelaide)

In FY25/26 sessions held include:

July 2025 (Brisbane)
July 2025 (Palm Cove)
Aug 2025 (Sydney) (Hyatt)
Aug 2025 (Sydney) (Accor Group)
Sep 2025 (Melbourne) (Hyatt)
Oct 2025 (Karratha (WA), Geraldton (WA) & Mt Isa (QLD)) (Virtual)
Nov 2025 (Melbourne) (Park Hyatt)

Make your booking:

Complete the booking form below to book one of the 2026 session dates for hosting a Creating Conversations (in Australia or UK).

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.

Hotels Lab

HOTELS LAB

WELCOME TO THE HOTELS LAB

CREATING CONVERSATIONS

Booking Form - Host Creating Conversations Session (Hotels)

Booking Contact Person

City Sessions (In-Person) (2026)

Hosting terms (In-person Bookings)

Regional & Rural Sessions (Virtual) (2025-2026)

Context (All Bookings)

Hosting terms (All Bookings)