Marriott Hotels Monterey Peninsula Ritz Carlton Rewards

Would you volunteer 3 hours in a soup kitchen to save $100 on your Ritz-Carlton stay?

Let me be up front in stating this is not an actual offer from Ritz-Carlton Hotels to save $100 on your hotel stay. This post is to raise discussion on how to kick-start an actual Ritz-Carlton voluntourism program that apparently gets few participants.

Voluntourism has been on my mind recently. This piece is primarily about voluntourism and not Ritz-Carlton hotels.

When I searched hotel voluntourism I found a Conde Nast Traveler article about a Ritz-Carlton Hotels program. Ritz-Carlton hotels in no way had any input in this content. That is my opening disclaimer to inform readers that this is my Loyalty Traveler article weaving together some thoughts on voluntourism, hotels and incentives for an existing Ritz-Carlton Hotels program I became aware of just this week. After reading a piece describing voluntourism projects at two Ritz-Carlton locations, I’d like to solicit suggestions on how Ritz-Carlton and other hotels might incentivize their guests participation in voluntourism projects for communities around the world.

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Monterey Volunteer Soup Kitchen

Yesterday I rode a bicycle past the food kitchen in Monterey temporarily set up across Del Monte Avenue from the Naval Postgraduate School. There were around twenty men and one woman dining and two or three servers dishing out food from large silver colored pots set up on a table next to the bike path in the paved lot space that formerly served as the main entrance road to the tiny in-town naval base. Now the paved lot is just an empty parking lot space after 9-11 when tightened security measures changed the landscape of Monterey, home to two of the country’s major military schools with NPS and the Army’s Defense Language Institute. Monterey is a place to come and learn languages. I nickname this town “Spyland”.

A man with a long white beard in well-worn camouflage clothing started to walk across the bike path to discard his used paper plate in the trash can, and in somewhat of an afterthought he looked up to see my sister, her son and me approaching on bicycles. He took a step backward off the bike path. The smell of hot food filled my nose as I rode past the outdoor kitchen on one of Monterey’s warmest days of summer, in the mid-70s, under the eucalyptus trees and one sand dune away from the Pacific Ocean of Monterey Bay.

“Down here it’s just winners and losers, and don’t get caught on the wrong side of that line.”

Atlantic City – Bruce Springsteen

My family has been in town visiting the past few days. We ate a couple meals a day in local restaurants. Restaurant dining for a family is easily a $200 per day travel expense in a heavily touristed town like Monterey.

Here is food for thought from a TBEX Toronto seminar I attended given by Bruce Poon Tip, founder of G Adventures. The actual business of G Adventures is something I have little knowledge about. Looks like they organize small group tours to places. More to the point for this article is Bruce’s talk about the evolving role of a global traveler.

Bruce Poon Tip was a motivational speaker to me.

Here are some insights from his seminar.

  • The United Nations World Travel Organization predicts international tourism will reach 1.6 billion travelers in 2020.
  • Of each $100 USD spent on a vacation by a tourist from a developed country, only about $5 stays in the economy of a developing-country destination. UNEP, 2008 data. (My comment: Maldives, Thailand, Bali, Mauritius, anyone?).
  • If the world today were a village of 100 people:
  • 47 people would struggle to survive on $2 a day.
  • 18 people would have to live on $1 a day.
  • 50% of the world’s wealth would belong to just 2 people.
  • 1% of the world’s wealth would be shared by 50 people.
  • Tourism will account for 10% of the global GDP in the next 10 years, an estimated $10 trillion.

Bruce showed a video with a dancer on a hillside at a music concert. Wildly gesticulating in a dance of one made the guy look kind of like a loner nut. Then the first follower joins the lone dancer. The leader embraces the follower as an equal. Suddenly the dance is not about the lone nut, but about the pair. It takes a lot of guts to be the first follower who transforms the lone nut into a leader. If the first leader is the flame, the first follower is the spark that makes a fire.

The second follower creates a group and the addition of more followers are the people who make a difference more than the leader. A leader can be a guide and a model for action, but without followers that person is a loner, a nut, an anomaly, and not a movement. The second person to follow the leader is the truly brave one who risks ridicule when emulating the loner. The third person is vital in creating a small group movement. And when there is a small group who have joined the leader, then the risk of joining the group is greatly reduced and suddenly a movement can evolve as more people rush into to join the group. And now there is a movement.

Bruce asked travel bloggers in the room at TBEX Toronto if their work is creating a movement to better the world?

Ritz Carlton Give Back Getaways program

In 2008 Ritz-Carlton launched a voluntourism program for guests that has attracted about 4,000 guest participants in five years. This is a small number considering the hotel has about 25,000 room nights every night around the world.

The Conde Naste Traveler article reports on two Ritz-Carlton voluntourism experiences with Ritz-Carlton Philadelphia and working at a food bank and Ritz-Carlton New York Battery Park working at a park to restore plants  following Hurricane Sandy.

The issue seemed to be that hotels offering this kind of opportunity find it easier to work with travel groups like corporate conferences where press opportunities to promote the travel group’s charitable work creates more incentive for participants.

Voluntourism at resort hotels where tasks are perhaps more enticing projects like releasing sea turtles into the ocean are more popular than working a food bank. My sister told me she has participated in a hotel sponsored project in Mexico releasing sea turtles.

Bottom line is there seemed to be difficulty in attracting hotel guests who want to participate in voluntourism projects. These programs gain more participation from the hotel’s employee volunteers and travel groups.

Are Room Rate Discounts or Bonus Loyalty Points incentive for You?

My first thought after reading the CN Traveler piece is I wouldn’t want to spend my time volunteering on community projects when I am paying full-rate staying at a hotel.

I can always volunteer my time for projects in my own community. I am sure that Monterey Soup Kitchen by the bike path could use volunteers. Sierra Club Ventana Chapter has projects every week for working on trail clearing in Monterey County.

Give me a $75 discount on a $300 per night room when I am staying several nights in San Francisco or 10,000 bonus points on a $400 paid hotel stay. I think that is incentive for attracting hotel guests to do charitable work in hotel sponsored community projects.

Would $100 off your $400 per night hotel bill or 10,000 hotel loyalty points in exchange for three or four hours volunteer work motivate you to donate your time when paying to stay at a luxury market segment hotel or an extended stay at a lower priced hotel?

Would you work half a day at a soup kitchen, pick garbage off a beach, help clear a hiking trail at a ski resort in summer if you could earn bonus points or get a room rate discount  at a hotel?

Incentivizing hotel guests for voluntourism projects meeting real community needs in less than glamorous activities than releasing sea turtles into the ocean with attractive room rate discounts or bonus points seems like a win-win for hotels in the local community and their visiting hotel guests.

Have you participated in voluntourism projects? Do you know of hotels that offer voluntourism project opportunities for guests?

Help leaders and followers create a movement.

If you are in the hotel industry offering voluntourism projects, let me help you create a movement. I’d love to promote ideas and opportunities for travelers to give back and better the world one community at a time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

8 Comments

  • Jeff August 26, 2013

    Interesting. Probably, if I had time.

  • CaroleZoom August 27, 2013

    I would and have been bouncing this idea around personally. I’d prefer something interactive with local people, more interactive than soup kitchening, but that’s my style. Work camp to clear trails in the forest? Companionship to folks in retirement homes or orphanages? Any efforts like this count me in!

  • Aeneas August 27, 2013

    Would love to know more about this.

  • Lark August 28, 2013

    Fairmont has a program where President’s Club members can earn elite night credit by volunteering (anywhere) for 4 hours. This is one of the ‘Choices’ options… Maximum 2 nights per year.

    Also, while none of these give you a discount (and many cost money), they all will make you feel better about yourself:

    http://www.fairmont.com/search/search-results/?k=volunteer

  • Ric Garrido August 28, 2013

    @lark – Thanks for the link to the Fairmont program. The article I linked to in this piece mentioned Fairmont Hotels offered voluntourism opportunities, however, despite saying they tried out three hotel voluntourism programs, only the two Ritz-Carlton programs were detailed in the CN Traveler piece.

  • Lark August 28, 2013

    Keep up the good work Ric.

    I found additional detail, through the Fairmont thread on FT…

    These are both Platinum Passion benefits, which every Platinum receives annually.

    http://www.fairmont.com/my-fpc/benefits/terms-conditions/

    Give & Get Back

    Terms and Conditions:

    Please allow 2-4 weeks after volunteer day for stay/room night credit to appear on Fairmont President’s Club profile.
    Charitable organizations considered must be in line with Fairmont Hotels & Resorts’ charitable donations criterion and will exclude groups that do not hold current government approval of their charitable status, are affiliated with endowments, debt reduction campaigns, political parties or candidates, religious organizations, private schools, advocacy or special interest groups or service clubs.
    A minimum 3-hour volunteer hour requirement will apply for each stay credit
    Members must send an official volunteer letter from the charitable organization to fpcvolunteer@fairmont.com.
    The official volunteer letter must have all of the following information in order to qualify for review: member name, charitable organization name, registered charity number, volunteer date and the number of volunteer hours.
    One stay credit (equaling one room night) will be awarded to the member’s profile
    A maximum of two stay credits (equaling two room nights) permitted per member.
    Stay credits will appear on the Member’s profile four to six weeks from the date of submission of the volunteer letter for.
    In order for stay credits to count for the current membership year, they must be completed by no later than December 31, 2013
    This benefit is not transferable to any party other than the selecting member him/herself, nor is it transferable to any immediate family member who may be a Fairmont President’s Club member.

    and

    Charitable Gift Card

    Terms and Conditions:

    No Tax receipts will be issued.
    For complete Network For Good Terms & Conditions, click here.
    The Network For Good cards will expire August 14, 2013
    For complete Canada Helps Terms & Conditions, click here.
    For complete Global Giving Terms & Conditions, click here.
    The Global Giving Gift cards will expire March 1, 2014

  • Ric Garrido August 29, 2013

    Saw this article today about Fairmont.

    Fairmont properties of the US West help local communities flourish Tatiana Rokou – 28 August 2013, 11:02 – See more at: http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/article/56387/fairmont-properties-of-the-us#sthash.38Nu88xn.dpuf

    SAN FRANCISCO, CA – This September, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts will reach out and support local charitable organizations during the luxury hotel brand’s Community Connections Month. As part of Fairmont’s new Sustainability Partnership program and the brand’s ongoing commitment to proactively engage with its local communities, hotel colleagues in participating locations will be rolling up their sleeves and pitching in, whether it be volunteering at a shelter, highlighting the preservation of a threatened species like bees, raising funds for at-risk children or lending a helping hand (or hammer!) to improve facilities for the elderly. Hotel guests can also get involved from donating money or purchasing special menu offerings to participating in a beach clean-up.“At Fairmont, we are continually seeking out innovative ways to support and give back to our local communities; a pledge that our hotel colleagues value and actively play a part in,” At Fairmont, we are continually seeking out innovative ways to support and give back to our local communities; a pledge that our hotel colleagues value and actively play a part in,” said the brand’s president Jennifer Fox. “It’s simply part of our ongoing commitment to good corporate citizenship.”Tens of thousands of Californians, including a pledge of 1,000 California Fairmont Hotels & Resorts colleagues, friends and family members will again gather along the beaches, shorelines, and inland waterways of the state on Saturday, September 21, 2013, to clear away the debris that has been deposited over the past year. Lending strength and stability to the Coastal Cleanup Day Program, Fairmont has for the past several years provided promotional support and committed volunteers, which has allowed Coastal Cleanup Day to gain tremendous momentum. Regional VP and Fairmont San Francisco GM, Tom Klein shares “Energizing our commitment to ‘think globally and act locally’, we are proud to support hotel-based environmental initiatives that encourage partnerships and learning while addressing a universal environmental issue in a way that hits close to home.” – See more at: http://www.traveldailynews.com/news/article/56387/fairmont-properties-of-the-us#sthash.38Nu88xn.dpuf

  • Lark August 29, 2013

    Thanks Ric.

    Well, we all need to stay at a Fairmont and participate in these activities so Fairmont continues to offer these options!

    We already participate in Coastal Cleanup Day through Scouting – glad to see Fairmont is engaged in this as well.

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