CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H) and Hyatt Hotels Foundation announced today that they are deepening their global commitment to empowering Hyatt colleagues and communities to reach their full potential. Hyatt is developing a new, multi-year partnership with Khan Academy, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing free access to world-class education online. This partnership represents the first time that Khan Academy will be collaborating with a hospitality company.
Over the course of the collaboration, Hyatt will bring Khan Academy’s multi-language learning platform to its colleagues, their families and their communities. Beyond that, it will also extend its reach to equip people everywhere with specially developed life skills and hospitality learning. Working together, both organizations hope to help close the skills gap, especially for individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds or areas. This will be accomplished through individual advancement opportunities conducted in a mix of physical and digital settings that optimize learning.
“We are in the business of caring for people so they can be their best, and a big part of that is helping not only our colleagues, but those in our communities, to reach their full potential,” said Mark Hoplamazian, President and CEO of Hyatt Hotels Corporation. “Khan Academy is a revolutionary force in bringing knowledge to anyone who seeks it, and working together, we can teach skills and change lives all over the world.”
Hyatt and Khan Academy will be prototyping several onsite and digital initiatives throughout the next year. Hyatt intends to partner with Khan Academy to bring the organization’s successful learning programs to all Hyatt colleagues around the world and their families. Beginning in 2016, Hyatt also envisions setting up learning labs in its hotels throughout Chicago to give colleagues, guests and community members access to Khan Academy curricula, such as financial literacy, economics and computer programming. These learning labs would then be rolled out to other cities across the world throughout the multi-year partnership. Finally, Khan Academy will share its learning content expertise to assist Hyatt with the development of one-of-a-kind content and courses designed around life skills and the skills needed for a career in hospitality.
“Our mission is to provide a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere,” said Sal Khan, Founder of Khan Academy. “We are delighted to be working with Hyatt – their team has a long history of supporting communities around the world, and the combination of our online resources with their physical footprint will help us reach even more students in a meaningful way.”
Hoplamazian announced Hyatt’s commitment in his closing remarks at Hyatt’s Global Summit in Orlando, Fla., where 800-plus company leaders from every hotel and region around the world gathered for three days to focus on the company’s purpose and strategic direction.
“I’ve seen great success in engaging our communities and providing life skills training – it benefits not just the participants, but also our communities, guests and hotels,” said Thierry Guillot, General Manager of Hyatt Regency Mexico City. “When we’re able to provide individuals with the skills they need for a job in hospitality, or any other job, it is encouraging and inspiring. I’m excited to see the potential power of our collaboration with Khan Academy rolled out around the world.”
The term "Hyatt" is used in this release for convenience to refer to Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Hyatt Hotels Foundation and/or one or more of their affiliates.
For more information on Hyatt and its corporate responsibility efforts, please visit www.hyattthrive.com.
About Hyatt Hotels Corporation
Hyatt Hotels Corporation, headquartered in Chicago, is a leading global hospitality company with a proud heritage of making guests feel more than welcome. Thousands of members of the Hyatt family strive to make a difference in the lives of the guests they encounter every day by providing authentic hospitality. The Company's subsidiaries develop, own, operate, manage, franchise, license or provide services to hotels, resorts, branded residences and vacation ownership properties, including under the Hyatt®, Park Hyatt®, Andaz®, Grand Hyatt®, Hyatt Centric™, Hyatt Regency®, Hyatt Place®, Hyatt House®, Hyatt Zilara™, Hyatt Ziva™, Hyatt Residences® and Hyatt Residence Club® brand names and have locations on six continents. As of March 31, 2015, the Company's worldwide portfolio consisted of 599 properties in 50 countries. For more information, please visit www.hyatt.com.
About Hyatt Hotels Foundation
The Hyatt Hotels Foundation harnesses our passion for caring for people and extends it beyond our walls and into the communities that we call home. We are committed to helping the people we care for to be their very best. We think globally and act locally, and work to address the most pressing issues faced by our communities — education, environmental stewardship, diversity, and physical, emotional and financial wellness — all with the goal of helping individuals reach self-sufficiency to build a better future and achieve their dreams.
About Khan Academy
Khan Academy is a 501(c)3 nonprofit with a mission to change education for the better by providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere. We believe that students of all ages should have free, unlimited access to the best educational content, and that they should be able to consume and master this content at their own pace. In addition, we believe that there are incredible opportunities to use intelligent software development, deep data analytics, and intuitive user interfaces to more effectively surface and present these educational resources to students and teachers around the world. Our library of content covers kindergarten to early college math, science topics such as biology, chemistry, and physics, and reaches into humanities with tutorials on economics, finance, music, philosophy, and art history. We reached 100 million users in 2014, and to date, we have delivered over 570 million lessons and 3.7 billion exercise problems. For further information, visit www.khanacademy.org.
