Tackle Modern Slavery in the Hospitality Sector

Modern slavery in the hospitality sector can include human trafficking, forced labour and sexual exploitation of those working in hotels, restaurants, travel companies and supply chains.

The Mekong Club works with hospitality businesses to create sustainable approaches to end modern slavery. Companies join our community to benefit from anti-slavery toolkits, consultations and support in developing ethical practices.

Join Our Community To End Modern Slavery

Work With Mekong Club to Make a Difference

1

Access to industry expertise and best practices
2

Collaborate with a global network of professionals
3

Reduce the risk of modern slavery in your business through training
4

Exceed ethical and sustainability targets
5

Become a leader in anti-slavery

Mekong Club Members

THE HIDDEN REALITY: MODERN SLAVERY IN HOSPITALITY

With many employees working behind the scenes as cleaners, kitchen porters and security guards, the hospitality industry is particularly at risk of modern slavery. Exploitation in hotels can be hidden from guests, and employees who are vulnerable to exploitation may not feel safe speaking out or leaving their jobs.

Find out how you score in your anti-slavery strategies against industry standards through our confidential self-assessment.

Start Self-Assessment

CHALLENGES THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR FACES

Hotels and event venues use third-party providers to make up some of their workforces. This helps businesses be flexible and scale their workforce up or down depending on service demand.

Contractors in the hospitality sector are often low-skilled, low-paid and the most vulnerable to exploitation. These individuals’ rights, such as sick leave, may not be mandated by law. With no option to work from home, many contractors work involuntarily or fall into debt bondage.

The Mekong Club has free tools and resources to help you address these challenges and exclusive tools for members.

Access Modern Slavery Toolkits

Testimonials

The Mekong Club delivered an impactful presentation during our industry conference in Bangkok, raising awareness about modern slavery, particularly in relation to seafood in Asia. Following this, our organization, along with our affiliated group, joined the Mekong Club, gaining access to valuable support materials and multilingual training videos. The Club has aided us in evaluating our security policies, addressing social responsibility, trafficking indicators, and providing modern slavery training for our management teams. Additionally, they assisted in enhancing our Responsible Procurement Policy to ensure awareness across our global hotel product supply chains. The Mekong Club's contributions have extended to establishing a Hospitality Roundtable for 12,000 industry peers to exchange best practices, with our group actively participating in over 23 countries. In essence, their support has significantly bolstered awareness initiatives among our vast workforce spread across numerous countries and territories.

Protecting Workforces & Empowering Change: The Urgency of Addressing Modern Slavery

Tighter legislation and more ethical-conscious consumers mean that businesses should have modern slavery at the top of their agenda. With the risk of modern slavery so high, hospitality establishments may not be as ethical as they believe.

You may already have some initiatives in place, or just starting your anti-slavery strategy. Wherever you are in your journey, Mekong Club can help.

Actively seeking change to tackle modern slavery will benefit the people working for your business, and your brand.

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Take a Stand: Start Preventing Modern Slavery

There are checks you can make when hiring agency workers to ensure that you follow legislation and that they are treated fairly.

Make sure that everyone has a written contract of employment that outlines rights to sick pay, holiday pay and other benefits. Individuals shouldn’t have paid any fees to obtain work.

Check that staff can legally work in the UK and live at legitimate addresses. If multiple workers live at the same address, this can indicate that they are being exploited.

Conduct a background check of the agency offering labour. If their fees are surprisingly low, don’t ignore the alarm bells and seek another provider.

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Latest News & Events

Migrant workers at greater risk of modern slavery after Brexit, research finds

Source: The Guardian. Brexit's hasty visas to solve labour shortages have inadvertently expo...

Thai prawns and other seafood imports are once again being linked to modern slavery

Source: The Telegraph UK. Concerns of a return to the dark days of trafficked labour in the ...

EVENTS

FAQs

How does modern slavery affect hospitality businesses?

Hospitality businesses are susceptible to modern slavery in the form of forced labour, sexual exploitation and human trafficking. The sector is labour-intensive, and labour costs make up a large proportion of total costs, meaning that businesses seek cheap labour.

However, cheap labour comes at a human cost. Workforces in many hotels are made up of agency workers and migrant workers who may not be treated fairly due to barriers such as language and unfamiliarity with local laws. Therefore, businesses need to enforce solutions to address modern slavery.
How do you assess modern slavery?

To effectively tackle modern slavery, you need to understand how your current anti-slavery strategies compare to others in the hospitality space.

Use our anonymous self-assessment to get your modern slavery score.
How to bring modern slavery into the sustainability agenda for your business

The key to raising awareness around modern slavery in your business is education and collaboration. Ensuring people at all levels of the organisation understand the signs to look out for, the consequences of modern slavery and how to tackle it will help you move towards change.

Commercial businesses with an annual turnover of £36 million or more must also publish a Modern Slavery Statement. Therefore, businesses must take the topic seriously and stand by their statement.

Mekong Club can help with training, detailed consultations, policy reviews, baseline assessments, community engagement and more.
How to spot victims of modern slavery in the hospitality sector

– Is the person in possession of their legal documents or are these being held by someone else?
– Is there a group of workers who have their wages paid into the same bank account?
– Are a group of workers dropped off or picked up at unusual times of the day, are they all taken to the same property?
– Does the person look malnourished, unkempt, or appear withdrawn?
– Does the person have old or serious untreated injuries?
– Is the person afraid of the authorities (police, immigration, the tax office)?
– Is the victim in debt to someone else?
How much does it cost to become a member of the Mekong Club?

For small hospitality businesses, membership costs $7,000. Membership is $12,000 if there are more than 250 employees in your organisation.
How often will I hear from the Mekong Club?

We hold industry working groups every 4 months. Members are invited to talk about issues they’re facing in their business and the community will work together to create solutions. We also share strategies that have worked and celebrate case studies.

Mekong Club is active in research and development, drawing inspiration from our member’s experiences. With your feedback and collaboration, we continue to improve our industry-leading anti-slavery tools and resources.

Tackle Modern Slavery in the Hospitality Sector

Work With Mekong Club to Make a Difference

Access to industry expertise and best practices

Collaborate with a global network of professionals

Reduce the risk of modern slavery in your business through training

Exceed ethical and sustainability targets

Become a leader in anti-slavery