Highgate has teamed up with Procure Impact to incorporate social sourcing into its worldwide hotel operations, aiming to turn routine purchases into measurable community benefits and create thousands of jobs annually.
Procure Impact has formed a collaboration with Highgate to embed social procurement across the hotel operator’s global portfolio, aiming to turn routine purchasing into measurable community benefit.
Under the agreement, Procure Impact will curate ...
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marketplaces, bespoke amenities and guest-facing retail and experiences drawn from more than 6,000 products supplied by mission-driven businesses, including social enterprises, brands with nonprofit affiliations and locally owned vendors. According to Procure Impact’s website, its catalogue spans categories from grab-and-go food and spa lines to furniture, art and VIP amenities, all sourced to generate social outcomes as well as guest satisfaction.
The partnership will include systems to measure social returns on purchases. Procure Impact will track indicators such as paid work hours created when properties buy from workforce-focused suppliers. Highgate has pledged to generate 10,000 paid work hours each year through this approach and will report progress via the American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Responsible Stay platform, aligning the effort with the Dignity of Work Pledge that Procure Impact helped develop with the AHLA.
“At Highgate, we are continually focused on elevating the guest experience across our portfolio. Through our partnership with Procure Impact, we are introducing thoughtfully curated products that meet our standards for quality and service while offering guests a deeper connection to the stories and communities behind the destinations they visit,” Highgate principal and CEO Arash Azarbarzin said.
Procure Impact co-founder and president Jen Collins added: “Together, we’re demonstrating that everyday purchasing decisions can create opportunity, such as fuelling jobs, supporting social missions, and strengthening communities.”
Industry observers say the move sits within a broader trend of hospitality firms integrating social value into procurement. Government and industry reporting cited by trade publications shows that multiple AHLA partners have made similar commitments; lodging-sector signatories have collectively pledged to create more than 100,000 employment hours through responsible sourcing efforts, illustrating both scale and momentum across the industry.
Highgate’s decision also complements its wider environmental and sustainability agenda. The company has previously increased investment in sustainability programmes, including participation in renewable energy initiatives and steps to phase out single-use plastics, according to a company release. Embedding community-oriented sourcing adds a social dimension to those environmental aims, creating a more holistic ESG approach.
Procure Impact already works with several major hospitality players. The firm recently announced a partnership with Hilton Supply Management to bring purpose-driven, locally made products into full-service restaurant concepts and retail programmes, and to streamline procurement via punch-out integration with procure-to-pay platforms, demonstrating how social sourcing can be operationalised at scale.
Implementation of the curated programmes is scheduled to begin across Highgate’s properties this year, starting in key U.S. gateway cities where the company operates, including Miami, Boston, New York, Honolulu and San Francisco, and expanding into its Caribbean, European and Latin American holdings. The companies say the initiative is designed to balance product quality and guest experience with verifiable community impact, though independent verification of outcomes will depend on the reporting gathered through Responsible Stay and partner disclosures.
By linking purchasing decisions to tracked social outcomes and embedding those metrics in procurement workflows, the partnership aims to make inclusive sourcing a routine part of hotel operations rather than an ad hoc charitable gesture. If widely adopted across the sector, advocates say, such programmes could create sustained employment opportunities for underserved populations while giving guests more meaningful connections to the places they visit.
Source: Noah Wire Services
