As mentioned in recent blog posts, CWT is proud to sponsor a home build with Habitat for Humanity in Denver. The construction of the Alvarez home is nearing completion (drywall and exterior painting this week!), and I wanted to take the opportunity to share with you a short video capturing how CWT clients were able to make their mark on the home at CWT’s event at Sports Authority Field at Mile High during the recent Global Business Travel Association convention. I have to say, it was pretty fun to see the family and watch the kids take the field and meet the Broncos mascot. It was an exciting day for all—take a look here.

CWT is looking forward to a continued partnership with Habitat for Humanity, and our employees are excited about making their mark on homes in their local communities.

What are some of your best experiences volunteering in your community? What about during your travels? We’d love to hear them.

CWT celebrated its partnership with Habitat for Humanity last week during the Global Business Travel Association’s (GBTA) conference in Denver, Colo.  Valued sponsors, clients, suppliers, partners and employees were invited to Sports Authority Field at Mile High (formerly Invesco Field at Mile High) to commemorate a local Denver home build sponsored by CWT.

CWT is supporting a Habitat for Humanity home build in Denver as part of a larger corporate responsibility effort focused on creating an impact across North America in the communities in which CWT employees live and work. The Denver home is slated for completion in October. Carlson employees across the country will continue volunteering with Habitat for Humanity in their neighborhoods for the remainder of this year, and beyond.

A portion of the Habitat home was constructed on-site during the event, providing guests with an opportunity to leave lasting remarks on the newly framed walls for the family, who was also in attendance. In addition, guests enjoyed entertainment, food and beverage, photo opportunities and various field events that were put on by Denver Bronco Alumni. A local artist was also present to capture the scene of the evening on canvas, which was presented to the family at the conclusion of the event. 

I’ve been to many a football field, but I’ve never had the opportunity to take the field for an inspirational event quite like this.

Have you volunteered with Habitat for Humanity? Tell us about it.

The Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) held their annual conference last week in Denver, Colo., which was attended by approximately 6,000 travel industry professionals, including a number of CWT attendees. One attendee offered me the following recap of the conference.

There were numerous education sessions for attendees to choose from that proved of interest to the variety of travel managers and travel buyers in attendance. Some hot topics this year included expense management, financial modeling, direct connect, mobility, online booking tools, strategic meetings management, policy compliance, and safety and security.

Based on the topics covered during the conference, it seems that increasing attention is being given to travel policy: it will continue to be important for business travelers to pay close attention to their company’s travel policy and ensure that they are in compliance. The total cost of travel has increased as air and hotel rates have risen, and companies are looking to optimize their travel programs in an effort to realize cost savings and control spend. Safety and security continues to be a hot topic as well, and is something travelers should pay close attention to. Becoming familiar with your company’s safety and security policies will ensure that you are safe and prepared on the road, and compliance with the policies will help your company locate and assist you in case of emergency.

Finally, with a focus on mobility, travel managers are looking for traveler input as to what types of mobile applications would be of best use as they’re looking for ways to align the most useful applications with their company’s travel programs.

Numerous industry leaders presented at the conference, providing some good insight on the issues that are facing our industry today, which continue to evolve as economics in the United States also evolve. Many of the CWT attendees also presented education sessions during the conference, which included topics such as online booking in Asia Pacific, country-specific trends in Europe, air and hotel sourcing academies, and two sessions on strategic meetings management.

Outside of the education sessions, GBTA hosts a large trade show. Airlines, hotels, rental car companies and other vendors presented the latest products and services they’re making available for travelers and travel managers. At the CWT booth, travel buyers learned more about the services CWT provides to travelers and travel managers, and also heard about the company’s community partnership with Habitat for Humanity. CWT is supporting a Habitat for Humanity home build in Denver as part of a larger corporate responsibility effort focused on creating an impact across North America in the communities in which CWT employees live and work. Various Habitat volunteer projects are also being organized across the country as a part of CWT’s partnership with this great organization.

GBTA’s 2012 conference will take place in Boston. What do you think some of the popular topics will be next year?

Safe Travels!

At my previous employer, I had participated in Habitat for Humanity several times by building homes within the city of Chicago.  It is sometimes very tough for us to find ways to participate in our community where we feel we are not only contributing but actually experiencing the result.  Fundraising is sometimes tough because you rarely know or see where that money goes to.

I like Habitat because you’re really getting involved in impacting a member of your community, whether it’s down the block or miles from where you live.  Plus, the family that will live there is working right next to you, which gives you the feeling that not only are they grateful for you to be there but for the opportunity they are working to gain.

As a woman, I didn’t always have the best understanding of construction “lingo.” This is a great crash course for the next time you run into a contractor.

Giving back isn’t just important to me, but to many of my colleagues and to CWT overall as well – so much so that we’re making it the focus of our biggest client event of the year, which takes place next week in Denver. We’re supporting the construction of a Habitat for Humanity home for a local family, and enabling our clients to leave their mark on the house while still having a great time as we take over Invesco Field, home of the Denver Broncos. We kicked things off in July with a ribbon cutting ceremony, and construction will wrap up on the home in October.

We’ll have lots more video and photos from the event to share, so check back here soon, and watch for more information on this effort on the blog. Or, for information on how you can participate in Habitat in your local community, view their site here.

Does anyone have some great volunteer stories to share?

On a recent corporate event trip to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, our hosts planned a surprise event that allowed us to give back to the community we were visiting.

Our event started out as Mexican Carnival with games.  Each team earned ‘funny money’ for each game we played and money was compiled to buy bike parts.  We then raced to build and decorate our bike as we thought we were going to have a race around the town square.  Instead, to our surprise, we presented the bikes to under privileged local children who had been bused in.  There were tears of joy as we presented each child with a brand new bicycle.

On the same trip, the Hilton hotel we stayed at had a program to protect baby sea turtles and educated us on the protection of their areas natural wildlife.  The timing was right and each member of our group got to release a baby sea turtle into the ocean for their journey to Japan.  These will be memories that I keep forever.

On another trip, while unpacking upon arriving at my hotel, I decided I had over packed and placed 2 old outfits in the garbage to avoid having to check my bags on the way home.  The next morning, I went back into my room during a break and the housekeeper asked if I really meant to throw away the clothes in the garbage.  When I advised that I had over packed and that I didn’t need what I had brought, she advised that she would take what I had left and would send it to family members in Malawi, Africa.   In reflecting on this, if I ever have this happen again, I won’t put the items in the trash, rather will leave a note saying that I no longer need the item and they can do what they want with it.

This experience and those similar experiences of my friends and co-workers make me think about how I can give back more often.  A friend was telling me about an event that she attended where one afternoon, the group went and laid sod  at the home of a family in need.  Another friend who recently participated in the same event, made the choice to go back to the destination and volunteer on her own time.  When a hotel company heard about what she was doing, they gave her a complimentary stay and she donated the  money she would have spent on a hotel back to the organization she volunteered with.  What an awesome way to give back!

As a traveler, more and more I find that the hotels I stay in offer me an opportunity to be a part of their community giving efforts.  Some donate my used soap and amenities to non-profits that sanitize and send them to those in need around the world.  I have learned that more than 5 million people die every year from water related diseases and that approximately half of them could be saved by a bar of soap and a little clean water.  Other hotels invite guests to join in fund raising for local charities; and other activities such as beach clean ups, and blood drives.

I’m interested in hearing about how you have given back while traveling.  The more ideas we share, the more we can all give….