Hotels With Heart The Hotels with Heart Foundation is the official philanthropic initiative of St. Giles Hotel Group, which aims to give back to the communities and people who sustain us.

Through Hotels with Heart, St. Giles London raised £15,000 for Malaika, a non-profit organisation empowering girls and their communities through education and health in the Democratic Republic of Congo. St Giles CEO Abigail Tan partnered with Malaika’s founder, Noella Coursaris, and her team to re-imagine one of the executive suites at St. Giles London into The Malaika Suite. Featuring curated artwork, wooden masks and other design nods from the DRC, the suite raised £15,000 for the charity.

Recognising the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, Hotels with Heart raised funds and collected essential supplies to support relief efforts for vulnerable and displaced individuals. Donated items were delivered to the White Eagle Club in Balham, while all monetary contributions went to The Voice of Children Foundation, which provides psychological and psychosocial support to children affected by war and other crises.

St. Giles Hotels is partnering with children’s charity Coram for three years, pledging £25,500 for the charity through Hotels with Heart, and raising additional funds via a host of activities. Funds raised through the partnership support the work of Coram Life Education, the leading charity provider of Personal, Social, Economic and Health education in primary schools, enabling thousands of children to acquire the life skills they need to thrive.

To help alleviate the unexpected financial burden of the pandemic on team members, the St. Giles Hotels UK leadership team – spearheaded by CEO Abigail Tan – created the Hotels with Heart Uplift Fund in May 2020. The fund raised almost £2,000. One-hundred percent of the funds raised were used to benefit team members with essential purchases such as groceries and household supplies. In 2024, a donation of £5,000 was made to Hospitality Action to assist with Family Emergency Grants and School Uniform Grants across London and the South East. 

In 2019, CEO Abigail Tan and our dedicated team from St. Giles London participated in the Hotels with Heart 3rd Annual Abseil for Charity event, descending the hotel building to raise over £7,000 for Street Child United. This UK-based charity advocates for street-connected children’s rights through sports. The event demonstrated St. Giles Hotels’ commitment to corporate social responsibility and inspired community unity and support for charitable causes within the hospitality industry. In 2024, the highly anticipated charity abseil returned after a five-year break, inviting brave team members to abseil down 160 feet (49 meters) for Coram’s Care Leaver campaign, a cause that helps care leavers with the costs of setting up their new home. Thanks to generous donations, the event raised £1,500. Through initiatives like this, the company continues to make a meaningful impact, inspiring others in the hospitality industry to support charitable causes.

The St. Giles Hospitality Academy, part of the Hotels with Heart Foundation, was launched to assist marginalised individuals from the local community in entering the hospitality sector. In partnership with Saira Hospitality, the academy will train 20 long-term unemployed locals over two years (2024–2025) through a four-week program at St. Giles London, aimed at placing graduates in jobs within the hospitality industry.

Academy students receive essential life skills training, financial advice, assistance with transportation and uniforms, and daily hot meals. Our 2024 academies trained 41 individuals experiencing homelessness, housing precarity or long-term unemployment, placing over 30 graduates into meaningful work across the hospitality industry. The academies are a key element of our Foundation’s goal to support 100 people into fair and meaningful work by 2030.