Photo Credit: itakdalee for Adobe Stock
Last July, an undercover sting operation caught more than a dozen human traffickers at San Diego Comic-Con and rescued 14 victims. The authorities knew where to find the culprits because, unfortunately, large-scale events and hotels tend to be hot spots for trafficking.
One year on, with the annual Comic-Con kicking off this week, we wanted to revisit the topic: How has the hospitality
and events industry been addressing the trafficking scourge and helping to prevent such crimes?
Working with communities
The San Diego Convention Center, home of San Diego Comic-Con, continues to make strides to support survivors. This past January, during Human Trafficking Prevention Month, the venue and its exclusive food-and-beverage provider, Sodexo Live!, announced a collaboration with Talitha Coffee, which provides training, jobs and holistic help to those who have been trafficked.
"By working with Sodexo Live! and the convention center, we can raise awareness year-round and support survivors through expanded employment opportunities," said Jake Jiron, Talitha Coffee's head of sales.
The benefits of the partnership are multipronged: Meeting planners can support the meaningful cause while simultaneously upgrading their coffee service.
"Our team is continually looking for new ways to support local businesses and create a positive impact in the communities we serve," said Bobby Ramirez, regional vice president of Southern California for Sodexo Live!. "We're excited to partner with Talitha to bring their delicious coffee and inspiring mission to our clients and guests."
With a roastery just a mile away from the San Diego Convention Center, working with Talitha can minimize an event's carbon footprint. Plus, the custom blend created for the collaboration is available exclusively at the venue and cannot be purchased for retail.
"We aim to deliver unforgettable experiences for our clients, exhibitors and attendees," said Rip Rippetoe, president and CEO of the convention center. "Local relationships like this enhance our offerings and reflect our values of sustainability and community."
Committing to the cause
In June, David Peckinpaugh, president and CEO of Maritz, was honored for his organization's work at the PACT Freedom Awards, along with survivor and advocate Rebekah Charleston, and Artists, Athletes and Activists, a community-driven organization making waves for children's rights. With these awards, PACT — which stands for Protect All Children from Trafficking — honors the contributions of individuals who have inspired change and championed child protection.
"We're really gratified by that but it's not about us, it's about our people and it's about making a difference," he said. "You wonder sometimes if you're having an impact and you just have to have faith that you are."
Maritz has long dedicated resources to support survivors and raise awareness in the events industry. One of the first industry organizations to get involved, in 2013 the event-design company signed the Tourism Child Protection Code of Conduct created by PACT. Established in 1996, the code focuses on the hospitality and travel industry, and is the only set of business principles in the world that the private sector can implement to prevent children from being exploited.
"Not many companies were talking about sex trafficking [back then], so we knew it was a risk," said Peckinpaugh. "But if you look at our culture and our core value, that's who we are."
The company decided to get involved after learning that the issue was prevalent in both its industry and its home city of St. Louis.
"It was clear that the hospitality industry was critical and heavily involved, unfortunately, and that very few organizations were doing anything about it, and that we could make a difference," Peckinpaugh said.
Training front-line workers
Recognizing the critical role that hotel workers can play in identifying and reporting trafficking situations, in 2022 Marriott International developed human-trafficking awareness training in consultation with leading antitrafficking experts. As of January 2025, more than 1.4 million of the organization's associates around the world had completed the program.
"For nearly a century, Marriott has upheld our core value to 'Serve Our World' by addressing some of the industry's most pressing issues, including human trafficking," said Tricia Primrose, executive vice president and chief global communications and public affairs officer for Marriott. "With our size and scale, we have a global responsibility and a unique opportunity to be a force for good where we do business."
Associates are trained to notify local authorities of any suspicious activity. The program also is available to individuals who wish to educate themselves on signs of trafficking.
"It is important to remember that the presence or absence of any common indicators is not necessarily proof of human trafficking," Primrose said. "It is up to trained law enforcement to investigate suspected cases and make the determination."
In addition to the awareness training, Marriott has launched a Digital Learning Zone, an internal online platform that quizzes employees periodically, ensuring their knowledge remains fresh.
Hilton requires training for employees, as well. "All hotel-based team members across our managed and franchised portfolio must complete training on an annual basis on how to identify the signs of human trafficking and appropriately report them," said a Hilton spokesperson.
Each Hilton-managed hotel around the world is required to post a list in team-member areas to help identify risks of human trafficking for sexual exploitation and forced labor. In the United States, properties place posters to raise awareness of the U.S. National Human Trafficking Hotline in guest-facing areas of the company's managed hotels, and the company shares available resources with its franchised hotels.
Breaking the cycle
While Marriott is striving to prevent human trafficking, the company also has resources for survivors. In 2018, the hospitality giant developed the Future in Training Curriculum in partnership with the Global Fund to End Modern Slavery. The program equips survivors with presentation, teamwork, time management, relationship-building and basic interviewing skills. More than 275 participants across the country have completed the training so far.
"Marriott has a long-standing commitment to empower through opportunity," added Primrose. "By providing resources and support, we can help survivors regain independence, reintegrate into society and break the cycle of trafficking."
Another way to aid victims of human trafficking is to provide safe shelter. Traffickers often prey on individuals who are experiencing housing instability by offering them a place to stay. In response, Marriott created HotelHelp in July 2024, a donation program that connects hotels willing to donate short-term emergency stays with established care providers who book rooms for victims.
"HotelHelp offers a solution to address this challenge by making hotels more accessible in these critical moments," Marriott's Primrose said. "Since launch, we are proud to have supported more than 20 human-trafficking survivors with nearly 100 room nights donated — helping to bridge the gap in shelter availability and reduce the risk of revictimization."
Similarly, over the last four years Maritz has donated free office space to The Covering House, which provides a home to youth between the ages of 12 and 18 who have been trafficked.
"They are in the process of building a new campus where they'll be able to house more victims and people they've rescued from human-trafficking situations," Peckinpaugh added.
Resources for event professionals
There are a number of ways that planners can help survivors, such as partnering with local organizations in the cities where they host events. In St. Louis, Maritz supports Monarch, which makes jewelry and accessories from coins and other materials. All net profits go toward Crisis Aid International to end sex trafficking and child sexual exploitation.
In Nashville, Strings for Hope allows the industry to give back to the cause. The nonprofit creates job opportunities for people who have experienced substance-use disorder, domestic violence or trafficking, by upcycling used guitar strings — of which there are plenty in Music City — and turning them into necklaces, earrings, bracelets and rings. Strings for Hope has a multitude of CSR opportunities that can be arranged for events, from gifting and shopping to on-site activations, where attendees can help organize the strings.
In Jacksonville, Fla., ReThreaded employs survivors to make jewelry, bags, accessories and other products from retired Southwest Airlines seats. Groups are able to explore the ReThreaded campus for in-person volunteer options, use their inventory for gifting or incorporate a learning component from the staff in the event agenda.
On the global level, TraffickCam is a mobile app where travelers can upload photos of their hotel rooms. Abusers typically post images of their victims for online advertisements, which can be used as evidence to find the perpetrators. However, investigators must be able to locate where the pictures were taken. TraffickCam has created a searchable database of the images that police can search to find other photos that were taken in the same location. Photographs submitted to the app are used to train an image-search system that is used by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking, please call the Human Trafficking Hotline at (888) 373-7888, text "INFO" to 233733 or visit their website at humantraffickinghotline.org.