Broadcast Retirement Network’s Jeffrey Snyder discusses an autism-certified hotel and what that can bring to guests and their families with Marriott’s Nusrat MIrza.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkJoining me now is Nusrat Mirza. He’s the general manager of the JW Marriott Desert Springs. Nusrat, it’s so great to see you.Thanks for joining us this morning.Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottIt’s a pleasure. It’s absolutely a pleasure.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkI’m really excited about this. I was telling you, I’m gleeful because I love covering these stories and I like the way that we create inclusivity in different environments. Let me start by asking, we’re gonna get into what Marriott’s doing in a second, but let me start off with a base question here.Generally speaking, what is an autism certified hotel? What does that look like?Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottWell, it looks like our staff at the hotel is well-educated. When they come across, when they see our guests in the situation, because people won’t tell you what they’re working with. So certified means we provide training to our frontline staff, those who come in contact with our guests.And at my level, I need to go through a much higher level of training, yearly certification. So I can go on myself and my human resource people, the trainers, they go at higher level of training. So our goal is to educate our people at the hotel.And that’s a certification to us.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkYeah, very important. I would imagine there are all different types of guests that come through. You have a very beautiful property.I looked at it online. It looks very beautiful. What led Marriott and you and your team to go through this certification process?Was there one particular circumstance or moment, or was just a realization that, look, we need to be more inclusive?Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottYes, Jeff, thank you for asking. Jeffrey, thank you for asking that. Inclusivity is a big deal in our business today in hospitality.It’s always been that way. Just think about for a minute, for a second, that in our country, we’ve been working with ADA related inclusivity, because that’s very obvious, very visible. When you think about the autism, it’s not as visible.It’s not obvious. Our goal is to have our guests, those who come in, they really enjoy with a family. So we wanna make sure that our staff, we are ready for it.And without them thinking about, oh, we’re gonna just large place, what am I gonna do with my child who I have it? I want to have them enjoy like any other guests, like there’s nothing to them. And that’s why we think this idea of inclusivity for our guests is critical.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkYeah, absolutely.Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottThat’s why we do it. And our goal in Marriott is bigger in a sense, just to let you know, that we take care of people. Our goal is whoever walks into our door, we take good care of them.That’s what Mr. Marriott has said for a long time. That’s what we do.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkAnd you do that very well, because the brand has been around for such a long time. It’s one of the major brands in the United States and internationally. So obviously you all are doing something very, very correct.And this is just in addition to what you’re already doing well. What types of changes, you talked about the training that you and your human resources team have to undergo. You’ve got to train your staff.Are there other material changes that you have to make to the property?Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottYes, yes, yes. So we had, part of the training is to create areas they are more feasible for our guests to enjoy. As you think about it, autism or autistic conditions vary person to person.So if a child who has got the sensory issues cannot go into loud and noisy areas, so we say, okay, and they are designated by some signs. So if you walk through our resort, all different places we have a small, not a big signs, not big thing for people. It just says, okay, this is the area conducive, non-sound, non-quiet areas.So that’s one change we took place. The second change what we do is, which is also not quite visible. We keep behind the front desk some important necessary items.This is came in through the training. Some of the young people, young kids and so on, they want weighted blankets. So as they come in and we know, and we ask parents and parents say, oh, we love it.We’ll take it to with our child in our room. We have toys that attracts the children. And so we have all these different things applying to different individuals.And these are part of the training.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkYeah, obviously, I’m sorry to interrupt you. Sometimes it’s hard to differentiate when a guest on the show is finishing their remarks. So I apologize for jumping on you.So I would imagine the reception from guests and the neurodivergent community has to be positive, right? I mean, Marriott is making this change to the property and being willing and accepting of different people. This has to be a positive.You have to have received positive feedback.Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottYes, yes. So from guests, I mean, there are stories and probably today I don’t have much time is the guest walks in with a family and our desk agent observes a few signs. And we don’t ask people, we just share.We have some areas and they start to see the signals. Okay, yeah, property is ready. And so when without asking, without just observation alone makes our guests comfortable right then and there.And they go back and tell other people. So that’s one side of the story. Let’s talk about we have, our hotel has some thousand employees they work.And today, as you know, the number one per 31 child, one way or other dealing with some sort of sensory issues, neurodivergent issues. So our associates are trained for themselves, for their own families. So we are benefiting from both sides, from guests and from our associates.And they take it back home and use it for themselves. So it’s been a pretty good success for us.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkAnd to that answer, is this a program that will be adopted across? I know you don’t speak for all of corporate Marriott, but you run the Desert Springs Resort and Spa. But do you think this is something that can apply to all Marriott properties, whether it’s domestically here in the US or internationally?Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottWell, excuse me not to interrupt you, but I can speak for all properties, but we are talking. And when we get together among our leaders, among our general managers and so on, we share. The story on the Marriott blog recently was published.So people have already called me about it and they’re asking for it. And at the end of the day, it is not too much. It is a part of the training.What we have done now is that every new hired associate they come in as a part of their orientation. Before we had to do big masses of training about three years ago. Now it’s just normal part of the, when we train them standards, we train them about what comes with as a certified autism center.Jeffrey Snyder, Broadcast Retirement NetworkWell, I mean, this is certainly a big step forward for not only Marriott, but also the community in which Marriott works, which is everywhere. And it’s also a big step, I think, for your employees because not only do they take it to the workplace, but as you said, they can take it outside the workplace to their families and to their local communities as well. Nusrat, we’re gonna have to leave it there.Great to see you. Thanks for joining us. And we look forward to having you back on the program again very soon, sir.Nusrat Mirza, JW MarriottIt’s a pleasure. Thank you so much.
An Autism-Certified Hotel Changed How a Family Experienced Travel
