Press room

CHLA Announces Training Program for Hotel Employees to Identify and Respond to Human Trafficking

The California Hotel & Lodging Association will begin offering its members an online training program to help hotel employees identify and respond to human trafficking at hotel properties.

SACRAMENTO, CA – The California Hotel & Lodging Association will begin offering its members an online training program to help hotel employees identify and respond to human trafficking at hotel properties.

The program, “Your Role in Preventing Human Trafficking: Recognize the Signs,” provides an overview of the issues of human trafficking, suggested protocols for responding to suspicious activity and signs of trafficking specific to different hospitality positions (in-room staff, restaurant, lobby, and security). “Recognize the Signs” was developed by the American Hotel & Lodging Association in partnership with ECPAT-USA and the Polaris Project.

“As an industry, we recognize the important role that hotels can play in fighting human trafficking networks that often rely on legitimate businesses such as hotels to sustain their operations,” said Lynn Mohrfeld, president and CEO of the California Hotel & Lodging Association. “Training employees in a variety of roles in hotels is critical so they can be the eyes and ears of identifying potential survivors.’’

The training program includes these features:

• Information on human trafficking of children and adults for the purposes of sex and labor
• Globalized information that provides context for California hotel workers
• Available in 14 different languages soon in addition to the current English version
• Content compliant with municipal ordinances and state laws requiring such training.

The new program is the latest of CHLA’s ongoing efforts to combat human trafficking. Last year, CHLA partnered with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Blue Campaign, which raises awareness through training programs that increase detection and investigation of human trafficking while protecting victims.

Human trafficking is a modern-day form of slavery involving the illegal trade of people for exploitation or commercial gain. Every year, millions of men, women, and children are trafficked in countries around the world, including the United States. It is estimated that human trafficking generates billions of dollars of profit per year, second only to drug trafficking as the most-profitable form of transnational crime.