This is the first time that a hotel company has done this and John Spence hopes that Karma Group won’t be the only global company involved (Photo: Karma Salford)
Karma Group’s founder John Spence has announced an unprecedented campaign which will help address the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Ukraine. Spence says that the luxury resort company Karma Group will be introducing a programme that sees hotels transformed into accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. Dubbed Karma Refuge, the campaign launched in France will see Karma Résidence Normande turned into a safe abode.
“I am taking my resort in Normandy and turning it into hotel accommodation for Ukrainian refugees. We have plans to populate it with people fleeing desperate conditions in Ukraine. Mainly women and children, these people have had to long journeys in freezing temperatures for nine, ten hours at a time just to cross the border,” says John Spence.
“Karma won’t just be somewhere to sleep, but we will also provide all food, we have full hotel staff, and all facilities free to use. Children will be given a range of activities, while parents will be given a chance to learn English and French, and will set up a Ukrainian kitchen,” he adds.
As for how these refugees will gain access to Normandy, Spence already has a plan of action. “To get them there we have a manager based in Warsaw, and will be using the assistance of local agents to identify those in need. They will then have a fleet of coaches to get them through to France,” he says.
This is the first time that a hotel company has done this and Spence hopes that Karma Group won’t be the only global company involved. “Once successful, my plan is to promote Karma Refuge, find other hoteliers who are willing to take it on, or private individuals who are happy to become a part of this humanitarian channel and bring people from Ukraine into a safe shelter in Europe,” he says.
Spence tells India Outbound about the decision and his motivation in doing that.
What made you take this decision?
John Spence
I made the decision in a heartbeat. Watching the news over the last ten days and seeing this sight of refugees pouring out of the Ukraine, reality is- it is the biggest movement of human beings since the second world war. Over two million people already have had to be evacuated and are refugees. And the startling statistics is, of those two million, one million and children, and it is just heart breaking to think that wives and children are kissing goodbye to their husband or their brothers or their fathers who have to fight in Ukraine. And then they have to make their way across Ukraine, get into safety through Poland or through Hungary or somewhere else. And so I believe it’s a moral obligation to help in any way we can.
We are very fortunate. We have resorts, and we have a resort which we can allocate for this purpose. We have about 45 rooms there. We have facilities like swimming pools, restaurants and common areas. So, we have property, we have the staff who are incredibly supportive and very keen to help these people and particularly children. We have a local community there, which is very supportive! and one thing I say about most part of EU is that they’ve been totally open to welcoming refugees with very little permits required and so the local community will work with us to help support this.
How long are you planning to keep the operation on?
Well, it is hard to know, isn’t it? We are providing accommodation for a guaranteed period of three months and three months is a specific period. Because the EU has said to refugees, “You can come in without any requirements or anything else for three months”. So, we are providing it for a fix three months to begin with. It is fluid, some people may choose to stay there and go somewhere else. there are people we know that may come to us that do have relatives somewhere in the world, and so they’ll stay with us for a week or so, then they’ll go on. Some may wish to stay at the whole time, and that’s fine! We’re very fluid and flexible on how we run this.
It is a three month stay to begin with, as we are complying with the French government. But after that time, who knows what will happen?
One said ironically, that sometimes a week is a decade. and I think in the last week we’ve seen a decade’s worth of activity, so it will be a very brave man forecast what is going to happen in the next three months.
