Hotels for Hope

Hotels for Hope: Book a Destination, Make a Difference

Neil Goldman transferred a lifelong interest in travel into a career encompassing business with charitable efforts. Goldman’s hotel referral service, Austin Hospitality, began through a desire to provide unique costumer service for hotel booking through networking hotels in the Central Texas region, and has moved beyond the region to book hotels all over the globe. Recently, Goldman shifted the brand to be renamed Hotels for Hope, which provides the same great service, but with the additional benefit of a philanthropic side called The Hotels for Hope Fund. Goldman’s company helps clients who wish to reserve group hotel stays by quickly booking rooms at inexpensive rates, without the hassle of a million phone calls, hours of searching online, or endlessly listening to bad “please wait on hold” music.

The Hotels for Hope Fund is a non-profit, which is administrated at The Austin Community Foundation, and any dollars brought in are deposited into this fund. The concept is simple; Hotels for Hope found a way to fund money for chairty with their already successful business model. Goldman explains, “We went to all the national hotel brands and asked them to include a $1 donation per room booked through us, and we’ll match that, then every hotel we book will collect $2 towards the fund.”

Goldman and his staff members have impressive backgrounds in hotel management, operations, and booking, but found themselves looking to incorporate a passion for charity into their business. “It is a labor of love for me. I went to college at Penn State where I was a part of the largest student-run philanthropy in the world, Dance Marathon, where I saw the direct impact of giving back, and that started the ball rolling. I started realizing I could do some good with my business.” The first instance of realizing charity and the hotel business could be combined came when Goldman decided to become a sponsor for Special Olympics Texas. “We saw an impact while working for the Special Olympics Texas organization — so we thought — how can we do this for all of our clients?” Goldman took the stress off of the Special Olympics organization by booking hotel room blocks for the organization’s several state  competitions. From there, the idea for Hotels for Hope was born.

Hotels for Hope is a social enterprise, a lifestyle brand, where people, and corporations can use the service to make a difference. Think of this business as similar to Tom’s Shoes — except instead of footwear, the company takes a for-profit side of booking hotel rooms, and through a labor of love, changes the lives of children through monetary donations. Currently, the fund benefits Special Olympics Texas, A Glimmer of Hope, LIVESTRONG, and the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors (T*A*P*S). Clients are able to choose the destination of their donation. For example, if a company books 500 rooms for a conference through Hotels for Hope, then $1000 would be collected to the fund, and the conference organizers can pick which of the four non-profits will receive the funds — or can opt to distribute to all four charities equally.

In a two week “soft opening,” Hotels for Hope secured nearly 3,000 room nights, generating $6,000 for their charities. Hotels for Hope continues to grow each week, and groups enlisting this service have the added benefit of helping a greater cause along with a stress-free method of finding the perfect hotel for a memorable event. “The vendors that work with us make all the difference in having a successful experience. We work with Alliance Reservations Network, who create private websites for booking, RegStep Technologies, who set up easy registration processes at events, and CLINK Events, who provide destination management and event planning.”

Hotels for Hope started in Austin, but they are able to book hotel rooms around the world, creating an international base of clients, with ambitions to keep expanding outward. As they expand, more and more funds will be donated to worthy causes. The long-term goal is to raise $500,000 in three years.

“All of us have busy lives. We’re all on blackberries, stuck to our iPhones, and always running around from meeting to meeting. With this lifestyle, not everyone realizes they have the time to give back, but everyone in some fashion knows someone who needs help setting up a conference or meeting. If you’re staying at a hotel anyway, why not use our services — we have experience with local and national hotels, we have global relationships, and we have historically saved clients between 15-20% on rooms. We set up a structure through this whole process of giving back, and are allowing everyone to be a part of it.”

For Goldman, he already knows he’s doing something right. “I look at my staff, and our clients — all of them are more motivated, have a better quality of life through operating our business this way, and we’re waking up every morning feeling good about ourselves.”

“If you choose to work with us, you’ll be part of a great movement.” This company is one to watch in the future as they plan to integrate fun events to further their cause of helping children in need. Visit the Hotels for Hope website for more information on booking rooms, and to learn more about this important business.

Posted by Jennifer Sinski

Jennifer Sinski has published 19 posts.

Jennifer writes Tapebombs.com, an East Austin music blog with a focus on local folk, noise pop, experimental, lo-fi, garage rock, and surf rock. Tapebombs seeks to write about DYI events, self-released material, small record labels, while serving as a space for independent local and national artists by hosting MP3 files, writing album reviews. We cover new releases in our ‘New Music Monday‘ column, highlight the sounds we’re fond of in our ‘Required Listening’ section, and specialize in lengthily ‘Breaking Bread with…‘ interviews, where we have a meal and good conversation with people involved in various forms of the music business in Austin, Texas. Visit Tapebombs.com for events, interviews, and new music.