From Faustine's Review:
In their 2018 survey of more than 5,700 LGBTQ+ travelers, Community Marketing & Insights found that 70% agree that all major hotel brands today are welcoming of gender and sexual diversities. Our research concurs. It’s hard to find a major hotel chain that doesn’t at the very least have a perfect 100 point score on the Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index, indicating that the chain doesn’t discriminate against its gender or sexuality diverse employees, and that they have committed themselves to some form of LGBTQ+ outreach—at least in the United States.
Some hotels are more dedicated than others, and over the years boutique hotel chain Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants (originally an independent chain founded in San Francisco but now owned by the UK based multinational hotel company IHG) has stood out for its generous courtship of gender and sexuality diverse travelers.
In addition to being a member of the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association, Kimpton sponsors the Red Ribbon Campaign for AIDS awareness, the Mautner Project for improving the health of women in same-sex relationships, the National Lesbian and Gay Chamber of Commerce, PFLAG, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalist Association and the Gay and Lesbian Association of Choruses. Kimpton is also the official national hotel sponsor of the Trevor Project, a US-based non-profit that works to prevent suicide among LGBTQ+ youth. Kimpton donates both its services and a portion of its earnings during certain campaigns to the Trevor Project.
On top of its charity work, Kimpton caters to the LGBTQ+ traveler by offering special rewards, invitations and promotions to members of their rewards program who self-identify as LGBTQ+.
It should be noted that Kimpton, as of this writing, operates in both the Cayman Islands and in Taiwan. Neither country allows same-sex couples the same legal protections of different-sex couples, although Taiwan is set to introduce marriage equality during 2019 and already has anti-discrimination laws in place. The Cayman Islands has neither marriage equality nor anti-discrimination laws that pertain to LGBTQ+ individuals. As of this writing Kimpton has not clarified whether their diversity policies extend to their hotels in these locations.
If there isn’t a Kimpton at your destination, Marriott International is a very worthy runner-up. Marriott’s current partnerships include the Human Rights Campaign and PFLAG. Marriott has also actively courted LGBTQ+ travelers with special ad campaigns featuring same-sex couples and out gay and transgender celebrities. J.W. Marriott Jr. was also vocal about his opposition of California’s Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage. Marriott has many global diversity programs, but it’s unclear at this this time whether same-sex couples receive equal benefits in locations where they are not recognized by law. If you have information on this, please add it to our Marriott International Company Page.
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