Travel Kindly – Give Back While Traveling
Kind Traveler, the travel industry’s first socially responsible “Give + Get” hotel booking platform and blog, is encouraging you to give back while traveling. Their mission is to empower travelers to become a force that benefits communities, the environment, and animals. This mission is strategically aligned with the United Nations’ Global Goals for Sustainable Development: preventing poverty, protecting the planet, and promoting wellbeing for all.
57 hotels, 50 charities, and 23 destinations have teamed up with Kind Traveler to come together and fulfill this vision of the ability to give back while traveling. That means that a total of 130 hotels, destinations, and charities want to empower YOU to do good.
How Does it Work?
The way it works is simple: travelers give a $10 nightly donation to a local charity that positively impacts the neighborhood they are traveling to, or to a charity of choice; as reward for their donation, travelers unlock an exclusive hotel rate and special perks with curated hotels and unique properties throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Costa Rica. 100 percent of the donations raised on the Kind Traveler platform are given to charity.
Metrics of ‘What $10 Can Do’ are communicated throughout the site, giving travelers a tangible example of the type of impact they can create by booking with Kind Traveler. For example, an exclusive hotel rate is unlocked with a $10 donation to City Harvest that will also help feed 40 in-need New Yorkers.
A $10 donation can also help plant 10 trees with Arbor Day Foundation; provide 40 nutritional meals for school children in need with World Food Program USA; and feed one rescue animal for one week with Animal Defenders International. In addition to making a positive impact, travelers will receive exclusive rates that are as or more competitive than many travel booking sites, as well as perks such as complimentary breakfast, discounted spa treatments, waived resort fees, etc.
“We are witnessing a powerful shift towards consciousness in traveler spending, and Kind Traveler is facilitating the connection between travelers and businesses that want to be an active participant in addressing societal and environmental challenges.” – Jessica Blotter, CEO of Kind Traveler
According to the 2017 Cone Communications CSR Study, 89 percent of consumers will switch to a brand that supports a good cause over one that does not, given similar price and quality. Before Kind Traveler, there was not a hotel booking site that helps travelers vote with their dollars for causes they care about with the reward of exclusive hotel rates.
The opportunity for travelers to marry purpose with purchase comes at a time when individuals are looking to have an impact on important issues, given the political, societal and environmental uncertainties that regularly dominate news headlines.
“Today there are 1.2 billion international travelers and there are 1.8 billion projected by 2030. The impact of tourism on the world can be positive or negative. Kind Traveler helps everyday travelers become a positive force for good by providing values-aligned vacation options that serve the greater good.” – Kelley Louise, executive director of Travel+SocialGood, a nonprofit launched in partnership with +SocialGood Network, a United Nations Foundation initiative.
Kind Traveler, a Public Benefit Corporation (PBC), is the first socially-conscious, ‘Give + Get’ hotel booking platform to empower travelers to become a force that benefits the wellbeing of communities, the environment, and animals. Travelers ‘give’ to a local charity that positively impacts the neighborhood they are traveling to, or to a charity of choice; as reward for their donation, they ‘get’ an exclusive rate to book directly with curated hotels and unique properties. 100 percent of the donations raised on the Kind Traveler platform go directly to charities.
