As you can read in this newsletter, we’re making progress in the hospitality industry, and we need your help more than ever. Specifically:

1. Introductions to decisionmakers in the hospitality industry–people who can give a “green light” to guest-giving programs in a hotel…or better yet, a group of hotels.
2. Introductions to potential funders who can see the benefit of a program that generates many multiples of “net new monies” from every dollar given to Hotels that Help’s rollout. In our pilot phase, we saw $4 in new contributions flow into local nonprofits for every $1 contributed to Hotels that Help. Now that we have refined our approach and built a website to support economies of scale, we expect even greater multiples of impact from every dollar contributed to HTH.

In these tough economic times, our local nonprofits that serve those in need are among the hardest-hit. With their revenues shrinking, this new source funding can be exactly the kind of “stimulus” that keeps these groups afloat…and allows them to deliver much-needed services.

Hotels that Help Heads “Up” Scale

Shhh! Don’t tell anyone, but our Founder, Dave Levenson, has been in super-secret conversations with one of the stars of this summer’s top-grossing, “Up”-lifting movie.

Let’s just say that if our request is “Grant”-ed, we’ll have access to some high-powered Hollywood talent, including a guy who can “make our day.” The potential is there for creating a short in-room video that participating HTH Members can use to promote their hotels as great places to stay, and HTH as a great way to do good while sleeping well.

HTH Blitzes Anaheim; Garners Media Hits

Last week, Hotels that Help President Jim Abrams presented our program to more than 400 Southern California hoteliers at the California Hotel & Lodging Association and Asian American Hotel Owners Association Conference.

The HTH logo adorned all the event signage and was featured prominently in the ” USA Today promotional materials handed out to all participants. The Hotels that Help team also swarmed the trade show and luncheon in our distinctive HTH t-shirts, passing out information and making contact with hoteliers.

As part of our outreach efforts, we also sent out a press release announcing Jim as our leader and our goal of enrolling 1,000 hotels to raise $10 million annually in California. We got 24-hour coverage at sites like CNBC, Yahoo!, Hospitality.net, and are working with other outlets for more durable, in-depth coverage as well. Stay tuned….

Website Supports Hoteliers, Charities from Interest to Rollout

Based on the experience of the people, hotels, and charities who pioneered the Hotels that Help program, our web-based support system enables an interested hotelier to get a guest-giving program up and running at her/his hotel–without the assistance or management of the HTH staff (of course, we will help out if needed!).

By simplifying the operation of a Hotels that Help program, and empowering local management, we enable the HTH movement to “go viral.” The success of HtH depends on our ability to support a “scalable” model, where thousands of hotels can run HTH programs supporting thousands of local charities, without a bulky bureaucracy “running” each program from a central office.

Check it out for yourself. And don’t forget to test out the Give page!

Thanks for your interest and support, as the hospitality industry takes a leadership role in helping our local nonprofits–and our communities–cope with the challenging economic situation.

One more way you can do good while doing well!