National clothing collection campaign

Budapest, December 11, 2020 – HotelHero again: hotels across the country have teamed up and collected nearly 9 tons of clothes for those in need. The donations reach those in utmost need with the expert help of the colleagues of the Hungarian Red Cross.

Social responsibility is perhaps most needed when the economy is not doing well. In many cases, this commitment is embedded in companies ’DNA and is not forgotten when hard times are coming. Actors of tourism sector, including hotels, have become the first and biggest economic losers in the pandemic. In this hopeless environment, a hotel charity initiative called HotelHero was launched in the summer of 2020. The founders of the association undertook together to help good causes with their free time, organizational skills and work.

Shortly after the HotelHero initiative, the Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants lined up with a special CSR section to commit to good causes.

Encouraged by the success of the first autumn HotelHero campaign (support of the Veni Vidi Vici Foundation – school cleaning), the CSR community of hotels announced a nationwide action in early November:

The goal was to collect as many good quality warm winter clothes as possible. In 7 regions of the Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants, a total of 20 fundraising points have been set up in capital and countryside hotels.

Under the coordination of Dóra Anek, the head of the HotelHero project and the regional leaders of the MSZÉSZ, the hotels that volunteered for the role of the collection point, started the national fundraising in the midst of austerity measures that affected their business very sensitively. The energies that focus on serving guests on better days are now focused on helping those who are in an even more difficult position than they are.

The collaboration did not stop among hotels, we managed to mobilize not only our staff, but also partners, suppliers, business customers, and even communities in several places from Sárvár to Balatonfüred, Eger to Bükfürdő – to highlight only the most successful cities of 20 collection points.

During the national collection, nearly 9,000 kg of autumn-winter clothes were collected, which reached for those in need with the help of the staff and volunteers of the Hungarian Red Cross, even before the Holidays.

On December 10, Dóra Anek, the head of the HotelHero project and the CSR section of MSZÉSZ, and Gergely Kollin, the head of the Budapest region of the MSZÉSZ, handed over the nearly 2,000 kg of funds collected by Budapest hotels at Mercure Hotel Korona, to the staff of the Hungarian Red Cross. On the spot, István Kardos, Managing Director of the Hungarian Red Cross, expressed his thankfulness to the hotels for their charity activity.

The main organizer of the action, Dóra Anek, would like to thank the colleagues of the Hungarian Red Cross for supporting and coordinating the initiative from the first moment to the last. Thanks to the regional leaders of the Association of Hungarian Hotels and Restaurants, who mobilized the hotels in their area and contributed a lot to the success of the campaign. Thanks to that 20 hotels who took on the role of collection points even in the most difficult circumstances and made it possible to raise 9 tonnes of aid by putting their network into operation. Last but not least, thanks to everyone who looked their wardrobes through as a result of the call.

Regardless of Covid-19 in 2020 – we managed to DO GOOD, WELL – by teaming up together!

The HotelHero community does not stop working, we will continue to look for the good causes we can stand by and those colleagues who are happy to join the ranks of HotelHeroes as helpers (www.hotelhero.hu).