Village Hotels, one of the UK’s leading hotel and leisure operators, has joined Accessible Hospitality Alliance (aha), bringing its distinctive approach to hospitality and community engagement to the alliance’s growing operator membership.
Operating 35 hotels across the UK, Village combines accommodation with extensive health and wellness facilities, swimming pools, restaurants, meeting and event spaces, and co-working facilities at selected locations.
Its business model extends beyond traditional hotel accommodation, welcoming overnight guests, health club members, business visitors and local communities into facilities designed to bring people together.
This breadth of activity presents opportunities to advance accessibility across multiple aspects of hospitality, from accommodation and dining to fitness, leisure and social interaction.
Village Hotels’ decision to join aha reflects its commitment to making these experiences more accessible, connecting the group with other hospitality operators, people with lived experience of barriers to hospitality, and specialist service partners to exchange knowledge and encourage practical improvements.
Kelly Cronin, Commercial Director at Village Hotels, explained: “Bringing people together is what Village is all about. We want everyone who comes through our doors to feel welcome, included and able to enjoy everything we have to offer.
“Joining the Accessible Hospitality Alliance builds on our commitment to making Village more accessible and inclusive. We’re looking forward to working with the Alliance, sharing best practice and learning from others to help us make practical improvements that make a real difference.”
As part of its aha operator membership, Village Hotels will appoint an Access Champion to maintain a focus on accessibility within the business, connecting leadership intent with everyday operational decisions.
The appointed Access Champion will also join The Access Champions Collective, an independent community of individuals from aha operator members who share experience, knowledge and practical approaches to improving accessibility for guests and colleagues.
Robin Sheppard, Co-Founder and Chair of Accessible Hospitality Alliance, welcomed Village Hotels to the alliance, saying: “Village is a hotel group whose front door leads to rather more than a bedroom. People come to exercise, meet, work, eat and spend time together. The meaning of welcome therefore reaches into almost every corner of the business.
“The finest hospitality does not ask people to fit themselves around the experience on offer, it takes the trouble to understand the people it hopes to welcome. That is a cultural ambition as much as a practical one. It is a pleasure to welcome Village Hotels to aha, and I look forward to the contribution Kelly and her colleagues will make to our community.”
Village Hotels will also become part of the wider aha community, including The aha Forum, where operators, people with lived experience and service partners come together to share perspectives, examine challenges and identify opportunities for meaningful progress.
Its membership further strengthens aha’s representation across the UK hospitality sector, adding the experience and perspective of a national operator whose activities touch many aspects of everyday community life.
Together, members are working towards a shared purpose: a hospitality world that welcomes everyone.