We constantly review our community and charitable activities to ensure that they have maximum impact at a local level, but also resonate globally and support the Group in meeting its objectives and responsibilities in these areas.
To ensure we continue to achieve this we have set ourselves the following Responsible Business goals:
- Increasing our charity initiatives and volunteering
- Contributions and investments with our local community
- Engagement with our local community
Each of these goals has a set of measurements that will allow us to track our progress. These goals and measurements will be reported on in early 2019.
Charity initiatives and volunteering
Group-wide
2018 saw the Group support two charitable initiatives across all properties at an international level.
The first was THINK PINK!, PPHE’s group-wide awareness campaign which took place in October in support of the globally recognised Breast Cancer Awareness Month. An annual event, THINK PINK! saw hotels, restaurants, bars, spas and offices in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Germany and Hungary raise funds and drive awareness of women’s and men’s health through a number of initiatives including Pink themed afternoon teas, a Big Pink Day where offices and hotels could donate to wear a hint of pink for the day and of course the annual London relay where hotel and office teams raced between five Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts properties. The total raised across all regions was £20,000.
The second was ‘Save tomorrow’s trees today’ where Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts supported partner charities World Childhood Foundation and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust (NWT). Volunteering hours have been donated to NWT to maintain the 40 trees planted in 2016, which represent the 40 international Park Plaza Hotels & Resorts’ properties in operation around the world. Fundraising activities included a donation on sales of a Juniper and Pineapple Tree inspired Gin cocktail, hotel check-out donations, tree-themed cake sales and a PPHE Quiz Night; with all contributions going to the World Childhood Foundation.
Total cash donations across these two international initiatives equalled £29,821, while total volunteering hours amounted to 60.5 hours
The United Kingdom
Outside of the financial contributions we make to our local communities via charity initiatives and fundraising, we work with a number of local organisations on a benefit basis. One example is the Oasis School graduation ceremony that we have hosted on a complimentary basis for the past three years at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge (estimated cost of £35,000 per event).
Additionally we provide prize vouchers for several charity auctions every year, totalling 17 events and charities in 2018.
Full list of charities supported in this way.
The Netherlands
Team members in the Netherlands partook in numerous local charity initiatives in 2018. Both Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam and Park Plaza Utrecht supported children’s charity Stichting Regenboog with donations, while Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam and Park Plaza Vondelpark also supported an animal protection organisation, Stichting Aap. art’otel amsterdam sponsored a local retirement home, and Park Plaza Eindhoven went all out for local residents in need, providing soup, pillows and duvets for the local homeless and hosting a movie evening for children whose families have been touched by cancer.
Park Plaza Amsterdam Airport also supported the local homeless in partnership with Leger des Heils (Dutch arm of The Salvation Army), donating 30 litres of freshly made soup to its Soupbus in Amsterdam. Other charitable initiatives at this property saw the display and sale of art made by disabled people at the Outsider Art Museum and by participants in a Care in the City programme operated by one of the largest healthcare organizations in Amsterdam, Cordaan.
Park Plaza Vondelpark raised funds for its local childhood cancer charity, Kika, by participating in the Dam tot Damloop and Zandvoor Circuit fun-runs, as well as donating a percentage of its income from drinks and snacks sales during the Winter Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup to the charity. It also donated furniture and kitchen equipment to Stichting BIO, a holiday park for families with a handicapped child, and upgraded 10 balconies at a retirement home in Oud-Zuid
Croatia and Germany
In the last 12 months, Arena Hospitality Group (AHG) in Croatia sponsored the Sa(n)jam knjige u Istri (Book Fair(y) in Istria), an important cultural festival of books and authors, and is the patron of the Libar za Vajk award (Book for Ever), awarded at the festival for a fourth year in a row.
This year again, in partnership with the City of Pula, AHG sponsored the humanitarian Christmas gala concert traditionally held at the Istrian National Theatre in Pula. Funds collected from ticket sales were donated to an institution or individuals in need from Pula or the surrounding region.
The Group also supported an art exhibition to raise funds for the Cerebral Palsy Association of the Istra County, donated a new incubator for the Department of Paediatrics at the General Hospital Pula and supported the education of physiotherapists at local healthcare institution and physical therapy centre, Zlatne Ruke.
In Germany, AHG’s Regional Office arranged a day-trip to Berlin Zoo for 50 children from Maltese Family Centre, Manna. Christmas trees were also placed in all hotels for Manna and were filled with children’s wishes which team members helped fulfil. Finally, Park Plaza Nuremberg hosted a charity Flea Market for the children of day care centre Lichtenhof of the Rummelsberger Diakonie.
Other charities supported in Croatia and Germany.
Engagement with our local communities
Employing team members who live near our properties is not only good for the environment, but supports our objective to be part of our local communities.
At Group level, we partner with the EMCup Hotel Management Schools Forum, Europe’s leading hotel school networking event, participating in 2018 on the Business Jury Panel to offer commercial advice to the next generation of hospitality students, and hosting the networking evening to introduce students to employment opportunities within PPHE Hotel Group.
The partnership also aids in building longstanding relationships with hospitality students and Hotel School leaders across the Netherlands, Switzerland and Ireland.
United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, to further local recruitment efforts, PPHE Hotel Group hosted a Prince’s Trust Recruitment event, Get Hired, at Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, and our HR and Operational teams attended four further Get Hired events, hiring young people into the business in the F&B and the UK Regional Office Finance teams. This active community participation led us to receiving a Get Hired Champion award from the Princes Trust for supporting young people into work. We have committed to repeating these initiatives in 2019.
We also partner with numerous organisations to aid outreach within our local communities. We send each of them a regular ‘vacancy list’, encouraging and promoting applications from local candidates, and invite all of our partners to send potential candidates to our annual Open Day. This guarantees local people an actual interview with PPHE for various roles, across multiple job types, at all levels. So far this year we have held at least 12 Open Days that have been attended by more than 800 local people.
We attend our partners employment events at their local venues to meet candidates and progress employment opportunities wherever possible. Events attended in 2018 include the London Borough of Hackney’s Open Day, several government-led Jobcentre Plus events across Westminster, Kennington, Greenwich, Tottenham and Brixton, and at Southwark Apprenticeships.
In addition to those mentioned above we work with approximately a further 20 employment outreach partners.
As well as these employment initiatives, we are committed to creating apprenticeship opportunities within the Group. Our internal Chef Academy and Apprenticeship Academy programmes are designed with local residents in mind. This year we have had a new intake of 10 apprentice chefs, all sourced via our local partners. We have held three dedicated Selection Days where local residents have been invited to come an experience the hospitality of PPHE whilst being assessed for suitability to embark on our Apprenticeship Academy programme. Our current Chef Academy includes local residents that have been referred from The Clink, Brent Works, Southwark Apprenticeships, Jobcentre Plus and Opportunity Lambeth. Their backgrounds are mixed, but will often include previous criminal activity, periods of care and disability.
We also partner with a host of local charities and organisations to provide learning and development opportunities. See overview of how we support them.
The Netherlands
Over in the Netherlands, at the Park Plaza Victoria Amsterdam, we have taken on two team members via In2Work and are currently discussing an inclusive job market partnership, Werkgeverservicepunt, with the Amsterdam Municipality, to employ refugees who have been granted status to remain in the Netherlands.
In addition the art’otel amsterdam cooperates with several MBO and HBO catering schools in Amsterdam, Leeuwarden and Breda, while Park Plaza Amsterdam Airport provides training and apprenticeships for students from Stenden University and have taken on four employees this year via the Dutch National Reform Programme, Participatiewet, which, with the help of social partners such as our hotels, aims to increase the national employment participation from 69% to 75%.
Other local engagement activities, by hotel.
Germany
In Germany, art’otel cologne hosted a Speed Dating event at a Job Fair held at the Rhein-Energie-Stadion Köln organised by the unemployment agency of the city Cologne as well as attending several large-scale Job fairs organised by national employment agencies across the country.
Further outreach includes a cooperation with the International University of Applied Sciences Bad Honnef (IUBH) to start with the dual apprenticeship program with the first 2 candidates, while art’otel berlin mitte has partnered with a refugee project in Berlin to recruit starter roles in operations.
