Marriott International announced it has trained one million associates to spot the signs of and respond to human trafficking. Marriott International first introduced human trafficking awareness training in 2016 and rolled out enhanced training in 2021. Designed in collaboration with Polaris, a nonprofit that specializes in combating human trafficking and helping survivors of trafficking, the training has scenario-based examples to help hotel associates recognize the signs of trafficking in a real-world context and provides response guidance for managers.
“I could not be prouder of our one million associates who completed their training—they truly are one in a million,” said Anthony Capuano, CEO, Marriott International. “While it is heart-wrenching to hear stories of human trafficking, Marriott is empowering associates across the globe to learn the signs, act quickly, and help combat these horrible crimes. Today is an important milestone along our journey to train all on-property associates by 2025. It takes just one associate to stop a trafficking situation and we are pleased to have donated the training to the broader industry to expand the impact.”
The training extends beyond Marriot International’s portfolio of hotels. With the support of the American Hotel and Lodging Association Foundation, Marriott International continues to make training available to the hospitality industry and beyond via ECPAT-USA.
Marriott International training has:
- 1 million+ associate training completions
- 8,200 hotels
- 138 countries and territories
- 570,000+ training hours
- 90 job functions trained
- 17 languages provided
The latest estimates from the International Labour Organization indicate that 28 million people are trafficked each year globally. The number of trafficked people has risen significantly in the last five years. Ten million more people were involved in trafficking situations in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates, and women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable.
