Hotel Etico partners with hospitality heavyweights and employers to provide long-term employment opportunities for people with disability

Australia’s first social enterprise hotel, Hotel Etico, has partnered with Sofitel Wentworth, Fairmont Resort, and other businesses across NSW to ensure people with disability succeed in their hospitality careers.

Hotel Etico, the first social enterprise hotel in Australia, training and employing young people with disability, recently graduated its first cohort of employees, who worked at the hotel’s facilities and trained alongside industry experts to gain the skills required to start their own hospitality careers. All six graduates have now been placed in award-wage paying employment at some of NSW’s most renowned hotels and restaurants, through a partnership program that aims to ensure people with disability are not just working, but set up for long-term career success. 

Based in the Blue Mountains, Hotel Etico is staffed by hospitality trainees with disability and industry professionals. Its unique business model aims to break down barriers preventing people with disabilities from achieving their full potential. Hotel Etico uses an integrated program of on-the-job vocational training, coaching in capacity building, and carer support to facilitate a pathway to employment and improved independent living and social skills.

Partnering with hospitality leaders to flip the script for people with disability

Graduates of Hotel Etico’s first cohort have been introduced by the Hotel Etico team to hotels and hospitality businesses across NSW. These introductions opened doors to a range of employment opportunities and, within a matter of weeks, every graduate had secured award-wage paying employment, including at the Sofitel Wentworth in Sydney, Fairmont Resort Blue Mountains in Leura, The Mercure Sydney, The Fullerton Hotel, The Humble Bakehouse and Hotel Etico itself with many more partnerships already in the making.

Andrea Comastri, Founder and Executive Director at Hotel Etico Australia, said, “Research unfortunately shows that people with disability are not always set up for success in new jobs, and the reasons are multi-faceted. This why we decided to extend our program by 12 months and establish partnerships that ensured employers were supported in providing inclusive and effective workplaces. Simultaneously, the employees with disability will have the support needed to have an effective onboarding experience that sets them up for long-term success. We were thrilled to see so many businesses as excited about employing people with disability as we are.” 

Ben Mellor from Fairmont Resort said, “Creating inclusive work environments is critical to our business culture, and helps us provide the best level of service to our customers. Hotel Etico is driving real value and impact in our communities, and we look forward to further developing our partnership as we continue to onboard and employ people with disabilities in ways that empower them to have meaningful and fulfilling careers at our sites.”

Doubling down for 2023

After the success of its first cohort, the program has just kicked off its second round, with double the trainees. Twelve people with disability are undertaking a 12-month training program to learn a range of skills including housekeeping, reception, restaurant, bar and kitchen as well as independent living skills through the Academy of Independence, an on-site apartment where they live and put in practice their new skills. 

With recent data highlighting the lowest unemployment rates since 1974, high volumes of jobs advertised, and labour shortages across the hospitality sector, Andrea highlights that one of the biggest issues for people with disability is that unemployment rates have hardly changed in the last twenty years. People with disability are still twice as likely to be unemployed as people without a disability, and are often underemployed and underpaid. 

Andrea explained, “We need more inclusive workplaces and greater efforts from employers to train and encourage people with disability to join our workforces. But it can’t stop there. Too often, people with disability are put in jobs that end up being short-term because they aren’t receiving the right support or have experienced discrimination in their workplace. There needs to be an equal focus on job placements and job success.”

Hotel Etico’s vision is to be present in every State and Territory in Australia and is currently exploring a range of opportunities and ways in which it can expand its operations and presence across the Country, and is also looking to expand its partnership program to help as many businesses as possible to create inclusive workplaces for people with disability.

Hotel Etico, 19^th September 2022