Our mission
Bring the hospitality industry together to provide timely, dignified help when a sudden crisis threatens an employee's home, safety, ability to work or family stability.
About Hospitality Relief Network
No hospitality worker should face
life's hardest moments alone.
This network began with a simple belief: the people who spend their careers caring for others deserve a trusted place to turn when a fire, medical emergency, family loss or safety crisis turns their own lives upside down.
Our purposeHelp hotel and restaurant workers regain stability when savings, insurance, public programs or family support cannot carry them through the immediate crisis.
Founded byMichael StormHotel operator and publisher of InnBrief hospitality intelligence
Why this network was started
The ability to receive help should not depend on the size of the company on an employee's name badge.
Michael Storm developed the concept after seeing what an established employee emergency fund could mean inside a major hotel organization. When someone lost a home to fire, faced a death in the family or experienced another sudden crisis, that person did not have to face the hardest days alone. There was a responsible way to provide meaningful help with speed, dignity and discretion.
Independent hotels, regional management companies, restaurant groups, franchisees and owner-operated restaurants care just as deeply about their people. Most simply cannot build the legal structure, private case-review process, financial controls and administrative team required to operate a separate charitable fund.
Hospitality Relief Network is being built to close that gap. The goal is to give hotel and restaurant employees a trusted place to turn when life is at its hardest and give employers, coworkers and vendors a responsible way to stand beside them.
Mission and vision
Hotels and restaurants. One hospitality workforce. One shared responsibility to care.
Our vision
A future in which every hospitality worker has somewhere trustworthy to turn, whether they work for a global brand, regional operator, franchisee or independent hotel or restaurant.
Our promise
Lead with compassion and protect it with sound governance, private review and fair decisions that no employer, donor or sponsor can influence.
Proposed governance
Institutional controls designed to earn confidence.
The final structure will be established with qualified charitable, legal, financial and privacy advisers. These controls must be documented before funds are accepted.
Qualified oversight
A charitable administrator or governing board will control charitable funds, approve policy and maintain fiduciary responsibility.
Independent adjudication
Employers, donors, sponsors, Michael Storm and InnBrief will not select individual recipients or influence case outcomes.
Conflict governance
Related-party services will require disclosure, market comparison, recusal and approval by disinterested decision-makers.
InnBrief's role
Industry reach without control over charitable decisions.
InnBrief will help explain the need, convene hospitality leaders and communicate aggregate program results. It will not hold charitable funds, access private applications, influence grants or exchange favorable editorial coverage for sponsorship.
- Executive education and launch communication
- Employer, ownership and vendor engagement
- Aggregate annual impact reporting
- Approved emergency fundraising communication
- Recipient stories only with informed written consent
Commitments to the people we serve
Help must be delivered with dignity and earned trust.
Dignity
People seeking assistance are applicants, not promotional content. Personal stories are shared only with specific, informed consent.
Privacy
Sensitive records remain limited to authorized administrators and reviewers with a defined need for access.
Fairness
Published criteria apply consistently regardless of employer, sponsor relationship or prior donation history.
Accountability
Financial and program reporting will document funds received, approved uses, grant activity and aggregate outcomes.
Help make sure hospitality workers do not face a crisis alone.
We are bringing employers, coworkers, vendors, charitable organizations and advisers together now so responsible help can be there when it is needed most.