In Brief: Training Made Available to the Industry at No Cost, Underscoring Hospitality’s Longstanding Commitment to Preventing Human Trafficking
Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG Hotels & Resorts today announced a comprehensive human trafficking prevention training curriculum that will be made available to the hospitality industry at no cost. The training will be available to independent hotel owners, operators, and brands throughout 2026, marking the first time these three major hospitality companies have collaborated on a training initiative designed to help prevent human trafficking across the industry.
The updated training, developed in partnership with the three hospitality companies, Protect All Children from Trafficking (PACT), and Unboxed Training & Technology, is survivor-informed and leverages live-action video storytelling that will now be available in English and Spanish on PACT’s website for industry use.
PACT will serve as the training administrator and provided subject-matter expertise grounded in survivors’ lived experience. Unboxed Training & Technology served as the strategic learning design partner, working with the companies to design and deliver a scalable, multilingual learning experience aligned to shared industry standards. Participants will receive technical support throughout the training, scheduled reminders to encourage completion and a certificate upon successful completion.
The collaboration exemplifies AHLA Foundation’s mission to unite the industry against human trafficking through its No Room for Trafficking (NRFT) initiative. All three companies are represented on AHLA Foundation’s NRFT Advisory Council, whose members champion and shape the hotel industry’s unified anti-trafficking efforts and survivor support. It will be featured alongside the industry’s existing training launched by Marriott International, which has been completed more than 2.6 million times by industry employees since 2020.
“This collaboration shows that together, we can achieve more than any of us could alone,” said Katherine Lugar, EVP, corporate affairs, Hilton and president, Hilton Global Foundation, “Today, we’re putting competition aside and partnering across the industry to ensure every hospitality professional has access to the most up to date information and tools they need to recognize, respond and report instances of trafficking.”
“By listening to survivors and learning from hotel teams on the ground, we gained invaluable insights into where guidance could be strengthened to deepen the impact of our existing training,” said Joan Bottarini, Chief Financial Officer at Hyatt and Chair of AHLAF’s NRFT Advisory Council. “That understanding helped us shape and design an updated training to better support and equip hotel teams in real-world situations.”
“This partnership succeeded because we shared a commitment to turn an idea into action, together,” said Rani Hammond, SVP, Global Human Resources at IHG Hotels & Resorts. “By uniting around a common purpose, we’ve created a new, survivor-informed resource that can empower hotel teams to make a real difference in preventing human trafficking.”
“As an industry, we’ll continue to play a leading role in human trafficking prevention. Through the AHLA Foundation’s NRFT initiative, our mission is to convene the industry to elevate awareness of the crisis of human trafficking, educate the industry, and support survivors on their path forward,” said Kevin Carey, President and CEO of AHLA Foundation. “We are proud to support this collaboration. This is the kind of industry-wide cooperation on shared priorities that we hope will inspire future collective efforts on critical societal concerns.”
This training launch announcement culminates a series of advocacy and awareness events conducted throughout January in recognition of Human Trafficking Prevention Month, offering the industry a valuable tool as it prepares to welcome large-scale events to the U.S. in 2026, which present opportunities to further strengthen awareness and prevention efforts. Industry members can access the training and additional information at courses.wearepact.org/preventing-human-trafficking.
CONTACT: Rahkendra Ice | [email protected]
Hilton: [email protected]
Hyatt: [email protected] & [email protected]
IHG Hotels & Resorts: [email protected]
