Companies must take the time to listen and learn… but most importantly, take action. There is a lot of talk about diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) but it is mostly performative.
Marketing in our industry is still wholly white and heteronormative. In my opinion, it’s totally out of touch with demographics today. I recently walked the Director of Sales and Marketing of a top London hotel, whose marketing imagery was wholly straight and white, through the lobby of her hotel and asked her to point out a single white guest. There wasn’t one. I asked her to pay attention to the gay couple checking in, and the LatinX American family with the non-binary child.
There is a way of being more inclusive in products and experiences as well. Our world is diverse, brilliant and beautiful: there are black winemakers in the Cape Winelands; indigenous tourism across Canada is hugely fascinating; Mardi Gras in Sydney is not just for the LGBTQ+ community; luxury in India goes beyond colonialism; the story of the Asian diaspora in California is mind-blowing; and there is more to the Caribbean – deep, painful and important history – than just white sandy beaches. Then on top of all of that, disabled people want to travel and see all of the above, but are scared to or can’t find a provider willing to help them.
Beyond DEI, we need to take personalisation seriously. If you are a hotel and you know you have a same-gender couple checking in, why not change the his-and-her sized bathrobes and slippers? Why not consider that there is more than Mr, Mrs and Ms. on booking forms? Why do you still ask me, a journalist you know that’s all about LGBTQ+ travel, if my wife will be joining me for breakfast? We think we are a worldly and welcoming industry, but unconscious bias very often gets in the way and we need to eliminate it.