Who Are We and What Do We Care About?
- We are an action oriented and humble hotel owner advocacy group.
- We believe a few things done good enough is better than nothing done. This means we will be wrong. Please tell us and we will learn from our mistakes. We promise to show up and do better.
- We want to create a culture for hotel owners where people feel safe, seen, heard, and respected.
- No more silencing and shutting our voices. No more judgement. No fake caring.
- We are not afraid to have real conversation, even if it’s tough.
- We care about the cause more than our egos.
- We want to seed and foster movements that advocate for owners rights.
- All leaders invited. And, everyone is a leader.
- We are not afraid to fail.
- If we fall down and we know we will at some point in some way, we dust ourselves up and get back to it.
- We work to educate owners on their rights and methods to advocate for those rights.
- We are open to all methods of engagement and believe dialogue is the first place to start but not the only option on the table. We will use all tools at our disposal to educate and advocate for our cause.
- We want to promote owner friendly brands and invite all brands to be owner friendly.
- Let’s be partners.
- We want to work on industry alternatives to branding including independent and boutique brands.
- There’s more than one way to do the hotel business.
- We want to create a community of inclusion.
- We want to empower minorities including Women, African Americans, Asians, LGBTQ and others to realize the American dream through business ownership in a hotel.
- We are smart. We are edgy. We get stuff done.
Who are we?
Why were we formed?
Reform Lodging’s name is perhaps the giveaway of its ambition to “reform” the lodging industry at large. We are true believers of the industry and its many contributions globally. Our livelihoods depend on ensuring the viability of the business, and to protect it from existential threats. We want to advocate for owners of all sizes, from the 10-room independent motel operator to the gateway city franchisee owned property.
Besides advocacy, Reform Lodging wants to be an incubator of sorts for driving innovation in the industry and supporting emerging hospitality industry leaders who share our lifelong passion to improve the industry and make it a compelling value proposition for new entrants.
How will we do it?
We will have a multi-faceted approach to tackling issues. This approach will include legal means, legislative approaches, and grassroots advocacy. Reform Lodging does not aim to be a combative, firebrand organization. While we will want it to be established in our business that we will have a strong legal arm, our aim is to pursue meaningful change through dialogue and education with key stakeholders.
Reform Lodging will collaborate with other groups and organizations as it sees fit and aim to work in unity with others. RL will support its pool of vetted volunteers, grooming them for future leadership roles within the organization and beyond.
How are we different from other established advocacy organizations?
We will not take a penny of sponsorship dollars from hotel franchisors and any other organization with conflicts of interests to our mission. We realize that there will be issues that will have to be sorted out with franchisors, and we don’t ever want it to be alleged that we do not take every matter with seriousness, or that the leadership is “compromised” in any way by a specific allegiance.
Our sole loyalty will be to our membership base. Our team isn’t focused on the limelight, but rather on pushing forward meaningful reform. We are a team of “do-ers” and every leader will bring passion and contributions to the cause – we will expect other chosen leaders to also be required to contribute and drive results.
Furthermore, RL will be an international organization pushing through causes for owners in the UK, Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. We will not only focus on domestic issues.