Best Western Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International have announced ways they are helping front-line workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Best Western Hotels & Resorts has launched a support package that includes a discounted rate at participating BWHR-branded hotels, a custom loyalty offering for essential workers and expanded donation offerings supporting COVID-19 relief efforts.
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“Each and every day we see essential workers, from health-care providers and first responders to transportation workers and infrastructure professionals, putting their own health at risk to lead the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic,” said David Kong, president/CEO for BWHR. “These front-line workers are making tremendous sacrifices for the greater good. While no token of appreciation will ever be enough, we are proud to show our respect and gratitude by keeping our doors open in their time of need, extending a loyalty upgrade and supporting the relief efforts through donations.”
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, front line workers have emerged as heroes, selflessly fighting a daily battle to keep communities around the world safe and healthy. Many of these professionals need a safe place to sleep to help them continue the fight against COVID-19. BWHR has created a special rate plan that extends a discount of at least 10 percent to essential workers at participating properties across North America. The rate plan is effective immediately and available for stay dates through June 30, 2020. Essential workers can select the rate plan when booking on www.bestwestern.com and will need to provide their work identification upon check-in.
In addition to keeping its doors open to essential workers in their time of need, BWHR is offering a Best Western Rewards Elite status upgrade to those on the front lines. Eligible essential workers can visit www.bestwestern.com/frontlineheroes for their status upgrade. Elite BWR members can enjoy bonus points for every stay, exclusive promotional offers, and discounted rates at BWHR-branded hotels worldwide.
BWHR also has made it easier than ever for its loyalty members to support essential workers. BWR members who donate their rewards points to BWHR’s charitable arm, Best Western for a Better World, or charitable partner, the Red Cross, will see their donations go directly to supporting COVID-19 relief efforts.
Marriott International and its more than 7,300 hotels around the world are launching efforts to help communities where they operate during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rooms for Responders
Marriott Bonvoy is launching Rooms for Responders in collaboration with its credit card partners, American Express and JPMorgan Chase, to provide up to $10 million worth of hotel stays at no cost rooms to front-line health-care workers in some of the hardest-hit cities in the United States.
To help identify health-care responders in need of overnight stays, Marriott Bonvoy is working with the Emergency Nurses Association, which acts as a resource for the global emergency nursing community, and the American College of Emergency Physicians, which represents emergency physicians, emergency medicine residents and medical students. Both organizations represent thousands of emergency doctors and nurses in the United States and internationally.
The program will provide approximately 100,000 roomnights to front-line nurses and doctors in target cities in most need at this time, including New York; Newark, N.J.; Washington, D.C.; Chicago; Los Angeles; Detroit; Las Vegas; and New Orleans. ENA and ACEP will administer the program matching doctors and nurses with accommodations at participating hotels.
The goal of the program is to offer these workers a place to stay whether they live locally or have traveled in to support overwhelmed hospitals.
The company also is making it possible for members to donate points during this crisis. Through Marriott Bonvoy’s Giving Platform, members can donate their Marriott Bonvoy points to relief organizations that are active in COVID-19 responses around the world and that Marriott is also supporting, including the American Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, UNICEF and World Central Kitchen.
Community Caregiver Program
Marriott recently launched its Community Caregiver Program for health-care workers on the front-lines of the pandemic. This program, available in the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Latin America, provides special rates for first responders and health-care professionals who want to book rooms at hotels in close proximity to the hospitals where they’re working. The rate is available on Marriott.com at nearly 2,500 hotels.
Community Donations
Many of Marriott’s properties globally have contributed by providing food, prepacked and cooked meals to crisis relief efforts and much-needed supplies like cleaning products, masks, gloves, antimicrobial wipes, sanitizers and shower caps for medical and other front-line workers. Other hotels, including the Sheraton Djibouti, are distributing food packs to help the hungry.