TORONTO — Improving diversity within the hotel industry — and more specifically within technology positions — requires both intentionality and constant measurement of success, according to a panel of experts.
During the "Unboxing Technology's Role in Diversity" session at the 2023 HITEC conference, Caroline van Beesten, head of EMEA technology and global deployment for Hilton, said hotel executives must consider diversity in the earliest stages of the process then follow through to provide opportunities for people to grow into higher roles.
"We have a lot of conversations about this" at Hilton, she said. "How do you get better at the recruitment part? And it's not just 'OK, you have to recruit a diverse candidate for a role. You need to have a diverse candidate pool to pick from. And there's a lot of focus on the recruitment side, but also from a development pathing perspective, how do we identify potential, and how do we recruit for potential rather than recruit for a certain role?"
The key with diversity, equity and inclusion efforts is to track outcomes, said Laura Pallotta, Marriott International's regional vice president of sales and distribution in Canada.
"What gets measured gets managed, so we have goals against all our objectives, including making sure we have diverse candidates at the [vice president] level and general managers," she said.
Keryn McNamara, senior vice president of hotel technology at Aimbridge Hospitality, said it can sometimes be difficult to find the right tools to properly track progress.
"It's all about data, and we all know that," she said. "It's using that data to then inform what our future is looking like and where we've really seen advances. We've partnered with quite a number of different solutions to get us there, but I'm not aware of a single solution that ties together payroll and back-end data analytics from a DEI perspective."
Within the U.S., DEI has become a political talking point, but panelists said companies have remained committed as the initiatives are largely viewed as a business imperative today.
"We're a company built on welcoming all, and it is more important than ever that we ensure that we do our very, very best to try to remove ourselves from that noise and make sure that we stand by those values," Pallotta said.
McNamara said that's why all businesses should be as transparent as possible about their efforts.
"We're in hospitality, and we're here to take care of people," she said. "That's the foundation of our business, taking care of any and all people. While the climate is such that I think many of us wish it weren't, it's the basis of our business, and that means not only taking care of our guests but taking care of our associates. And that's probably more important than ever."
Panelists said to ensure success, everyone within an organization should take ownership in trying to improve diversity.
"Just make a concerted effort," van Beesten said. "Everybody can do the small stuff, and I think all of us must realize just what a strong ally we can be. It's just being conscious about it. Be conscious about what role you can play in somebody else's life and career."