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Hotel Industry News |
Monday July 6th, 2009 |
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AH&LA and Dress for Success Partnership Launches with Suit Drives at Hotels Across the Country |
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Flagship Initiative of AH&LA's WIL Connect Professional Female Membership Program Gives Disadvantaged Women a Second Chance in the |
At its Women in Lodging (WIL) luncheon this week, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) and Dress for Success announced a national partnership to build awareness of and solicit donations to support the organization's primary mission of promoting the economic independence of disadvantaged women. Joi Gordon, CEO of Dress for Success Worldwide, and Vicki Gordon, chair of AH&LA's Women In Lodging Executive Council, officially kicked off the new flagship initiative of AH&LA's WIL Connect membership category, which will include a series of fundraising events and suit drives at hotels across the country in 2009.
AH&LA will kick off their partnership with Dress for Success through a series of suit drives held by AH&LA's WIL Executive Council, which is comprised of executives from more than a dozen hotel companies to support the organization's most well-known program of providing women with a suit for their job interviews. This partnership signifies the first unified hospitality industry move to support Dress for Success, which is already supported by industry partners including the Kimpton Hotel Group, W Hotels, and Loews Hotels.
Dress for Success is an international non-profit organization that promotes the economic independence of disadvantaged women by providing professional attire, a network of support, and the career development tools to help women thrive in work and in life. To date, Dress for Success has assisted more than 450,000 women referred by approximately 2,750 diverse non-profit and government agencies including homeless shelters, immigration services, job training programs, educational institutions, and domestic violence shelters, among others.
'AH&LA's partnership with Dress for Success marries the natural compassion hospitality professionals maintain and the tangible resources they have available in order to assist those in need,' said Vicki Gordon, chair of AH&LA's Women In Lodging Executive Council and managing partner of Collins Gordon Group, LLC. 'Organizing this nationwide initiative with AH&LA's motivated Women In Lodging members at the reins will provide Dress for Success a new level of visibility within the far-reaching, service-oriented hotel community and professional resources to thousands of women dedicated to getting their lives on track.'
'We are thrilled to have the opportunity to work with AH&LA to build support for local Dress for Success affiliates across the country,' said Joi Gordon, CEO of Dress for Success Worldwide. 'The Women in Lodging Executive Council is a powerful group of hospitality industry executives, and we are proud to be working together to help disadvantaged women achieve self-sufficiency.'
The announcement was made during the WIL luncheon, which allowed approximately 125 female lodging professionals time for one-on-one mentoring opportunities with the C-level hospitality professionals of the WIL Executive Council. The luncheon followed the keynote WIL session featuring Susan Steinbrecher, Embassy Suites' youngest general manager in history, who discussed why women are uniquely qualified to lead in the lodging industry and offered insight on how to capitalize on their gender-specific traits. Both events are part of the 2008 AH&LA Fall Conference, which runs through November 11 at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City in conjunction with the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show(R) (IH/M&RS), the industry's premier trade event.
WIL Connect is the first industry-wide forum exclusively for female hospitality professionals. WIL fuels the mission to promote women's leadership into executive positions within the lodging industry and contribute to business development efforts, including women's markets. Membership is free to all women employed at AH&LA property and allied member organizations, regardless of their position within the company.
For more information on AH&LA and its future relationship with Dress for Success, please visit the AH&LA WIL Connect Website. To schedule media interviews with executives from either organization, contact Jessica Soklow, AH&LA manager of media relations, at (202) 289-3153 or jsoklow@ahla.com.
Serving the hospitality industry for nearly a century, AH&LA is the sole national association representing all sectors and stakeholders in the lodging industry, including individual hotel property members, hotel companies, student and faculty members, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AH&LA provides members with national advocacy on Capitol Hill, public relations and image management, education, research and information, and other value-added services to provide bottom-line savings and ensure a positive business climate for the lodging industry. Partner state associations provide local representation and additional cost-saving benefits to members.
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Contact Information:
1201 New York Avenue, NW, #600
Washington, DC 20005-3931
Tel: 202-289-3100 Fax: 202-289-3199
Click for Website
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AH&LA is a 93-year-old federation of state lodging associations throughout the United States with some 13,000 property members worldwide, representing more than 1.7 million guest rooms. |
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