Help Your Little Hotel Herd in Siem Reap, Cambodia

Imagine how you would support your family as you fight the injustices and scars of civil war, carry the burden of debts with high interest, and played the role of sole income provider for an entire extended family - all in a country where the development index remains dangerously low.

This is the reality facing the people employed by Baby Elephant Group  in Siem Reap, Cambodia.

Since we launched this fundraiser, more hotels and other service industry businesses have closed. We are in fact possibly the only property to have stayed open the entire time for the express purpose of keeping our staff employed, and providing a safe space for our community. We are deeply saddened every time we hear of another business closing - because each time it throws hundreds more people into living and financial situations that no one should be in. 

This is also what makes us even more determined to keep going and find solutions until tourism recovers.

For more than five years Baby Elephant has welcomed guests to the Kingdom of Wonder whilst providing an ethical workplace for their Cambodian team. Growing from one employee in 2015 to a team of 30+ dedicated hospitality and tourism professionals. 

Our model is to use profits generated from tourism to create sustainable, empowered jobs and thereby work to eradicate poverty.

Our projects are Baby Elephant Boutique Hotel, BE Happy Guesthouse, Sugar Spa & Yoga Space. All of which support sustainability, circular economy and elevate people out of situations of human trafficking and extreme hardship into real, meaningful careers. 

The pandemic crisis has seen our normal service income wind down rapidly and drastically. International borders remain largely closed, airlines aren't flying and the global tourism industry is reeling. 

In Cambodia, there is no stimulus package. Support from the government to keep people employed goes to those who closed already, and is nowhere near enough for those laid off to live on. This is why we are continuing to fight.

We are still fighting to ensure our team is financially supported and we remain open. Will you help us? 

Until tourism and hotel bookings return, our ability to support our team and community is in jeopardy.

By supporting us, you will ensure that people here in Siem Reap, Cambodia, can continue to meet their daily needs their own way - by having a job and income.


Your Contribution will go towards:

STAFF SALARIES

Keep our Cambodian team members employed and paid. By ensuring our team is in wages it means they can self-determine, support their families, have money for food and their community,  keep markets and other small business owners in the business.

FEEDING THE COMMUNITY

Daily meals for staff, tuk-tuk drivers & other service providers. This includes providing accommodation for those in need.

KEEPING PEOPLE SAFE & HEALTHY

Maintaining security, health insurance and healthcare for our team and where possible our community. 

KEEPING LOCAL BUSINESS ALIVE

A lot of micro-businesses, social ventures, and other ethical employers depend on us. We are trying to make sure they keep in work too. Laundry, uniform suppliers, fruit and vegetable suppliers and even our landlords. We have a community that depends on us and we don't want to let them down. 

CARING FOR ANIMALS

Care for our adopted and foster animals. 

SURVIVAL

Ensure we can continue to contribute ethically and responsibly to Cambodia and to welcome guests in the future. This will include continuing our commitment to upskilling and innovating to create employment opportunities.

If you have further questions, please head to our website for more information about our fundraising efforts and how your contribution is helping your herd. 

We will continue to fight for every cent that Baby Elephant and Sugar Spa can generate, and everything we generate will go toward supporting our staff. We have asked for the minimum, given that we hope to generate the rest through hotel income. 

If we generate more, this will be used to develop new systems and projects which will remain focused on poverty eradication through social enterprise.

Thank you for reading and your contribution.

#helpyourherd

THE FULL STORY

Business was doing well. Then, the virus scared away all foreign visitors, and we saw our bookings disappear. We were not generating enough revenue to maintain the hotel, the staff salaries most important among them. But realizing that a number of expats were stuck in Siem Reap, we cut our rates dramatically to entice expats to commit to long-term stays. In our appeal to those expats, we indicated that in addition to all the benefits of staying at the hotel (pool, restaurant, bar, etc.) the revenue generated by their stay would go directly to supporting the staff – paying their salaries, health insurance, feeding them staff meals, etc. 

For a while that worked, as a handful of expats were unable to leave (or unable to afford leaving) and stayed with us for weeks, months.

Gradually, as countries and airlines opened up, they left. With no one replacing them we now find ourselves with the challenge of finding as many ways as possible to generate income.

For the hotel’s staff, the need to stay open is urgent. 

“If Baby Elephant closes, I will have no job. I need this income to support my family, and I would not be able to pay my bank loan. This would make my life extremely difficult. I really want Baby Elephant to stay open forever,” says housekeeper Thon.

To read more, please visit this link: https://babyelephant.asia/blog/gofundme-faq/