American Hotel & Lodging Association launches 'No room for Trafficking' campaign in Chicago

by Mary Bonnett

It was standing room only at the Sheraton Grand Chicago as the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) launched its “No Room For Trafficking” campaign.

The campaign supports the new Illinois law, which will take effect this summer, making it mandatory for hotel and motel owners to train employees on spotting signs of human trafficking. The session included training for area hotel workers.

The January 31 event came just ahead of the Super Bowl in Miami and two weeks ahead of the NBA All Star game in Chicago.

According to Michael Jacobson, CEO and president of the Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association (IHLA), “Reported cases of human trafficking spike during these large-scale events. Traffickers rely on legitimate hotels to carry out their crimes.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said poverty is the main cause of trafficking. “I look forward to working with industry leaders, elected officials, community organizations and law enforcement agencies in doing all we can to reach every exploited individual.”

Poverty is only part of the problem, according to a 2018 state task force report, which described a hypothetical 14-year-old victim who worked after school to support her family of six and who spent a great deal of time on social media. She met a young man on the internet and then in person who worked to earn her trust, bought her new clothes, a backpack, a tennis racket. After six months, he asked her to sell drugs for him. When she hesitated, he threatened to stop seeing her. Confused, she wanted to do better next time. The next day when he picked her up, he had another task: she was forced to have sex with men who paid money to him.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker echoed the task force report when he warned that “all of the work we do at the state level is only truly effective if everyday Illinoisans are alert and report any signs of human trafficking, and nowhere is that more true than with members of the hotel industry.” Meanwhile, the Lodging Services Human Trafficking Recognition Training Act, passed last June, will require the Illinois Department of Human Services to establish a 20-minute curriculum that defines human trafficking and commercial exploitation of children. Commercial establishments will also be allowed to develop their own training materials.

“Human trafficking is a deplorable crime that damages and destroys millions of lives,” AHLA President Chip Rogers said. “It is critical to organize our entire industry…and build partnerships with law enforcement officers and leaders. We must know the signs."

For hotel workers, those signs include: a customer paid cash, an older man with dazed and afraid younger women, multiple men checking in with one woman, no luggage, two room rentals and women prevented from moving about freely.

“If you see something, say something,” IHLA President Jacobson said.

Atty. Gen. Kwame Raoul reiterated, “law enforcement and the private sector” must work together “to identify and properly report” suspects. “The hotel industry’s leadership through training and streamlining reporting mechanisms will help turn the tide in this important fight.”

The sex trafficking business is a triangle—trafficker, enslaved person and buyer. Children and women from all economic levels are trafficked, although the greater number are poor. According to the Polaris Project, which operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline (1-888-373-7888), nearly 25 million people worldwide are engaged in “modern slavery:” defrauded into selling sex or working under inhumane labor conditions.

Based on supply and demand, if buyers stopped purchasing humans, the illegal business of sex trafficking would end. From 2010-2015, the Chicago Alliance of Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), among other notable organizations, created the “End Demand Illinois” campaign, targeted at buyers (97 percent of whom are men), pimps and traffickers. With awareness raised, numerous anti-trafficking laws were passed.

Yet, demand increases. Cell phones and online access allow buyers to order a person, like pizza, to be delivered in 30 minutes.