LGBT business owners can get to know Kimpton Hotels better, now that the company's LGBT sales team members are joining their local LGBT chambers.
Kimpton Hotels has been a long-time supporter of the LGBT community and organizations—including the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce® (NGLCC), which Kimpton has been a partner of for more than five years.
Yet its new sales branch of KPRIDE—the company's current employee resource group (ERG)—is taking that commitment even further by requiring all sales team members to join their local LGBT chambers of commerce.
"If you're a member of the sales team, you have to become a [chamber] member, you have to attend events and be involved," said Drew Parker, associate director of sales for Kimpton Hotels of Washington, D.C. and co-founder of the KPRIDE sales team. "We felt like, in order to be involved in the local community, you have to be involved in the local chambers."
Parker, along with Jim Bristol, sales manager at Kimpton's FireSky Resort and Spa, formed the company's national LGBT sales team. The group includes 10 sales representatives spread across each of Kimpton's markets and whose primary focus is reaching the LGBT market and growing Kimpton's brand exposure.
In an effort to distinguish itself from other hotel chains that target the LGBT community through marketing, Parker says Kimpton's approach is more about building relationships at the local level through the connections built through the company's strong partnership with the NGLCC.
"Kimpton's more of a start-from-the-grassroots type of company," Parker said. "We think that forming these one-on-one relationships with local chambers is our biggest resource."
Kimpton's outreach efforts are just another example of how far LGBT inclusion has come in recent years, and it is another tribute to the LGBT community during Pride Month. The strides that have been made are exemplified by Kimpton's decision to support local LGBT chambers.
Requiring the sales team to join their local chambers has not only built on an existing relationship Kimpton had with the LGBT community, but it makes them more motivated and inspired to continue developing the relationship.
"We would love to see all our national hotel partners follow Kimpton's lead and not only partner nationally, but support local chambers through individual properties," said NGLCC co-founder and president, Justin Nelson. Nelson noted that the NGLCC requires any hotel property that hosts an NGLCC event, such as the national conference, to not only be affiliated with a national hotel partner, but also requires that the local property must join the NGLCC's local host affiliate chamber.
"There's a lot of excitement now," Parker said. "Before it was just the sales team calling on different clients, but now that they're actually out there meeting LGBT business owners, I think it makes it more exciting and real for them."
For LGBT business owners, having a hotel corporation that is committed to the support of the LGBT community is of particular importance, as hotels are often the site of business meetings and conferences, as well as accommodations for business travelers.
"This Pride Month it's great to have Kimpton really showing its support of the LGBT community by becoming involved in their local chambers," said Rick Fowler, director of meetings and special events at the NGLCC. "Now when LGBT business owners are traveling for work or leisure, or when they are planning meetings or other events, they know they can book a Kimpton hotel with confidence that they are supporting the NGLCC and local chambers around the country."
