Hotel Association Names New Diversity Chair
April 3, 2009
Patricia Marroquin--HispanicBusiness.com
|
|
|
|
Stephen P. Joyce, president and CEO of Choice Hotels International Inc., is the new chairman of the American Hotel & Lodging Association's Multicultural & Diversity Advisory Council.
The origin of the council dates back to 2004, when the association identified diversity as one of its three core objectives. Representatives from more than a dozen top hotel companies comprise the council.
The council's mission is to: leverage the business advantages of diversity; address deficiencies, and expand and highlight opportunities to increase inclusion at all levels of the hotel industry; and address human resources and work force issues to ensure hoteliers reflect a staff similar to the makeup of today's work force.
Other priorities of the panel are to work closely with various groups to raise awareness among minorities and minority-focused business and community groups. These groups include NAACP, National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators & Developers Inc., Hispanic Hotel Owners Association, the Asian American Hotel Owners Association, and the U.S. Pan Asian American Chamber of Commerce.
"I look forward to the opportunity to serve as chair of this committee and to strengthen our industry's focus on diversity and inclusion," Joyce said in a news release. "It will be a great privilege for me to focus on these issues while working closely with subject matter experts from across the industry as we seek to achieve this committee's strategic objectives and enhance awareness of the business imperative to create more diverse organizations in the lodging industry."
Accomplishments of the council include creation of a diversity business assessment tool, and a dedicated spot on the American Hotel & Lodging Association's Web site with resources for hotels implementing their own multicultural programs.
Joseph A. McInerney, president and CEO of the lodging association, said: "We must as an industry continue to advance efforts on this front by creating new initiatives to benefit all employees making up our diverse communities. Under Joyce's leadership, I believe we will more effectively lead hotels to integrate essential diversity components into their standard operating procedures and better mirror the industry's multicultural employee and customer base."
Source: HispanicBusiness.com (c) 2009. All rights reserved.
|
