Giving Compass' Take:

• More hotels are offering trainings to their employees to identify if human trafficking is occurring at their workplace and how to take action against this practice. 

• Victims of trafficking are suing hotels and motels for their inaction, prompting this response. Will employee trainings be enough to eliminate trafficking from hotels and motels completely? 

• Read about how donors can make an impact to fight human trafficking. 

Last year, as the ski season ramped up in Beaver Creek, Colorado, about 120 seasonal employees at the Ritz-Carlton Bachelor Gulch gathered inside a series of upscale meeting rooms for onboarding training. The agenda covered hotel rules and expectations, tours of the building, and good customer service.
Oh—and how to spot a slave, too.

Some estimates project that 24.9 million people worldwide are victims of labor and sex trafficking, according to the International Labour Organization.

“If a guest pays in cash or requests a room with access to an exit, that’s a red flag,” said Ritz-Carlton team trainer Wendy Hunter, pacing in front of a small group of employees. Behind her stood a large screen showing an image of a young girl and a list of signs of human trafficking that she ticked off. Does a guest speak for another person in their party? Or seems too protective of them? Maybe he lingers outside their room for long periods of time? That’s the time to speak up, Hunter said.

“It’s not just low-end hotels—this problem is endemic,” says Philadelphia attorney Charles Spitz, who follows the issue as the leader of the hospitality practice at Post & Schell PC.

Hotels like Marriott International, which owns the Ritz-Carlton brand, have good reason to address the problem. Human trafficking is a hot-button issue that can cost money and destroy corporate reputations.

The Washington-based nonprofit Polaris Project, which operates a hotline for suspected cases of trafficking, documented 1,434 cases inside hotels and motels between 2007 and 2015 and identified 1,867 victims. Only 22% of the calls of cases in hotels and motels were made by victims.

Read the full article on human trafficking by Jennifer Alsever at FastCompany