By Justine Amodeo, Special to the Independent
With COVID-19 creating a devastating impact on the hospitality industry, local hotels and resorts are doing their part to help support their furloughed employees.
This week, Montage International launched the Hearts of Montage Associate Relief Fund, a program that supports Montage Hotels & Resorts and Pendry Hotels & Resorts associates and their families, as well as allowing supporters to book upcoming trips themselves or give the gift of travel to others.
Valid through May 15, 2021, Montage International is offering unlimited Montage Cares and Pendry Cares Certificates, with 100% of funds raised contributed to the Hearts of Montage Associate Relief Fund. A $500 Montage Cares Certificate entitles you to a one-night stay in a standard king room at any Montage hotel or resort. A $250 Pendry Cares Certificate entitles you to a one-night stay in a standard king room at any Pendry hotel or resort.
Additionally, the company is providing internal support programs for associates. The Montage International Associate Relief Program not only includes the relief fund, but also includes Family Meal and Care Package Distribution Nights as well as optional at-home learning and programming for culinary, fitness, and children of associates. Each week Montage associates can log into a portal to participate in at-home learning, cooking demos, and bring their children into story time with brand collaborator and best-selling author, Brad Meltzer.
To learn more about the Montage’s employee relief campaign visit heartsofmontage.com.
At Classic Hotels & Resorts (CH&R), a family-owned and operated hotel collection which includes seven boutique hotels including The Inn at Laguna Beach and Laguna Beach House, owners John and Gina Grossman have launched a Bringing Our Family Through the Storm GoFundMe to help get direct cash for groceries and other essential needs to their much-appreciated furloughed associates.
“Many of these team members have been with us for decades,” John Grossman said.
In a recent letter to CH&R employees, John Grossman wrote: “Each of these hotels is just four walls and a roof. Our family of associates makes it a home with a beating heart—a place where kind strangers are welcomed, and memories made.”
Within five days of launching the employee relief fund, $150,000 was raised for groceries and other essential needs for their 900 employees, but much more is needed.
“With many of our associates now on unpaid leave in Arizona and California, coping with the Covid-19 pandemic and a myriad of concurrent financial difficulties, our goal is to reopen and rehire as soon as possible,” John Grossman said. “That’s why we are asking our community—loved ones, colleagues, valued past and future guest—to recall the faces that made your getaways, staycations, birthdays, weddings, honeymoons and reunions what they were, and to give what you can—whether it be a dollar or a share—to help us return that care in this unprecedented moment of need. From bell hop to housekeeping, chef to server, front desk to back of house, management to ownership and beyond, we thank you for your kindness.”
To donate visit, gofundme.com/f/ClassicHotelsEmployeeRelief.
