IHG Hotels & Resorts has launched IHG LIFT, an owner growth program focused on creating more hotel development support for historically underrepresented groups within the hospitality industry, and further diversifying IHG’s hotel owner community. The company’s new program aims to help unlock common barriers to hotel ownership among these groups and empower diverse owner-entrepreneurs for success.
IHG will commit more than $30 million over the next five years to support the program, which includes support, access to capital and help along the hotel lifecycle for owners who qualify in the U.S. and Canada. The IHG LIFT program name signifies Leadership, Inclusivity, Facilitation and Transformation to represent the change needed and continued evolution across the industry.
“As our industry grows, we need to keep our focus on enabling more success for our diverse ownership base," Julienne Smith, chief development officer, Americas, IHG Hotels & Resorts, said in a statement. "Barriers such as a lack of access to capital and the right networks put such owners at a disadvantage. The IHG LIFT program is specifically designed to help ease the path to ownership and ultimately support owners. Diversifying ownership is not only better for IHG, it also lifts up our entire industry.”
Jyoti Sarolia, CEO of Ellis Hospitality and owner of IHG hotels in California, said programs like IHG LIFT are important for the hotel industry. "These efforts help grow our community of owners, which should be as diverse as the guests we serve every day," she said. "IHG’s commitment and focus to make a difference certainly resonates with me as an owner.”
IHG's other diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives include increasing the number of diverse suppliers through its EPIC Supplier Diversity Program and working with architectural, design and construction firms that have DEI commitments within their business.
IHG LIFT aims to attract diverse owners that are less represented within the hospitality industry and within IHG’s owner community. IHG has long championed owner diversity, including working closely with the Asian-American hotel franchise community for decades. In addition to the diverse owners in its current portfolio, IHG’s support for underrepresented groups has included sponsoring conferences, speaking engagements and lending expertise for organizations such as the National Association of Black Hotel Owners, Operators and Developers and the Latino Hotel Association, among others. To help expand opportunities for women seeking hotel ownership and investment, IHG also supports programs such as She Has a Deal and AHLA’s ForWard.
To nurture the success of future leaders and increase ethnically and racially diverse talent in hospitality, IHG is also engaged in partnerships with two leading Historically Black Colleges and Universities: Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse College.