Starwood Hotels has won the prestigious Corporate Partnership Award in recognition of its significant contribution to the work of UNICEF UK. The award, which is only granted every ten years, is given as a way of acknowledging the exceptional contribution of an organisation to the fulfilment of UNICEF’s mission for children during the last decade.

Starwood Hotels has been a committed and dedicated global corporate partner of UNICEF since November 1995, through the innovative and extremely successful Check Out for Children programme, which operates in 232 hotels in Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asia. Check Out for Children specifically raises money for UNICEF’s immunisation programmes, by asking guests to leave behind $1 as they check out of their hotel. To date, Check Out for Children has raised over $14 million, allowing UNICEF to immunise more than 820,000 children around the world against preventable childhood diseases. In addition, the initiative has also played a considerable role in raising the awareness of UNICEF's work and the needs of vulnerable children to thousands of guests from all over the world.

Starwood's employees in particular have shown enormous dedication to the Check Out for Children partnership, in delivering the programme to the hotel guests and in organising their own fundraising activities, raising over $600,000. This summer, Starwood employees are setting their sights on a new fundraising target – to raise another $350,000 for UNICEF through the recently launched Ride for Life Campaign.

The Ride for Life Campaign will take Starwood employees on a journey from its headquarters to the birthplace of Check Out for Children by completing a virtual cycle ride from Brussels to Addis, a distance of 5,600 kilometres.

Joanne Andrews, UNICEF spokesperson and Check Out for Children Manager, said: “UNICEF is delighted to present the Corporate Partnership Award to Starwood Hotels in recognition of the groundbreaking Check Out for Children programme. The backing of partners like Starwood is absolutely essential if UNICEF is to continue to succeed in providing life-saving support to the millions of children around the world, as we have done over the past 60 years.”

Roeland Vos, President Europe, Middle East and Africa, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, said, “I’m very satisfied and proud with the results achieved through the contributions of our associates and guests but you can never do enough. This is only the first step. For this reason Starwood will continue to provide UNICEF with support in the future years. We hope that our presence in this project can awaken public interest on worldwide issues like these”.

Presented at UNICEF’s 60th Anniversary celebration by UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lord Attenborough, the award was collected by Robert Scott, Starwood’s General Counsel in Europe, Africa and Middle East, who first came up with the idea for Check out for Children and whose tireless support has led it to be one of the most successful partnerships in UNICEF’s history.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 850 properties in more than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood® Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, Sheraton®, Westin®, Four Points® by Sheraton, W®, Le Méridien® and the recently announced AloftSM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com

UNICEF
For 60 years UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working on the ground in 155 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for poor countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

tags: Starwood, UNICEF, hospitality, charity, partnership