Free hotel breaks for Hidden Heroes

Posted on the 2nd June 2018

Who we are

Room to Reward was founded in 2015 as a mechanism for charities to give something back to their Hidden Heroes – those whose commitment and dedication to the charity makes a real difference – at no cost to themselves.

The premise is simple. We partner with hotels across the United Kingdom who donate their anticipated unsold rooms to the initiative. We then invite registered UK charities to nominate their Hidden Heroes for a well-earned break. Ours is the pleasure of making it happen. The breaks are:

One or two nights
Bed and breakfast basis
Completely cost-free

Room to Reward is enabled by the generosity of our hotel partners. From humble beginnings, we now partner with more than 155 hotels all over the UK, as well properties in Berlin and Paris.

Why it matters

Nobody reading this needs the importance of volunteers to charities explained. Invariably, these are the same people who would immediately turn down any ‘thank you’ they fear may have cost the organisation money.

What we offer is the chance for charities to give a ‘thank you’ that has a value of hundreds of pounds, for free. There are no costs to charity partners, no set up fees, no subscriptions. With the exception of travel costs for the Hidden Hero getting to the hotel, Room to Reward is 100% free.

The idea came from our founder, Nic Roach, Chairman of the Nicholas James Group and owner of Harbour Hotels. Every night of the week, there are approximately 140,000 unsold hotel rooms across the U.K. We help hotels put what would otherwise be a wasted asset to great use.

Who are the Hidden Heroes?

To date, over 230 Hidden Heroes have been nominated and enjoyed a complimentary short break courtesy of Room to Reward. These are people whose words, deeds and actions make the world a better place. People whose stories are a refreshing antidote to the negative noises from a world that all-too-often seems selfish and cynical. People like:

Daphne and Charles, Help & Care, Boscombe, Bournemouth

Daphne and her husband Charles are in their 80s and have been helping the local community through volunteering for over 20 years. They have carried out different roles at Help & Care, including driving people with mobility problems to essential appointments or visiting older and isolated people at home and are now part of the Telephone Befriending Support Scheme.

About volunteering, Daphne says: “We started volunteering because we wanted to help people and make a real difference to their lives, especially to those who are lonely and housebound. It’s wonderful to see how a small act like a telephone call can make such a big difference for someone who might have not talked to anyone in two or three days.”

Charles says: “I volunteer to try and be a helper to those in need. The day may come when I need help, but if I can do something now to help those in need, best do it whilst I can.”

Tom, Action for Refugees in Lewisham (AFRIL)

Tom is the Headteacher of our Rainbow Club, which is a supplementary Saturday School run for children aged 4 to 11 years from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds. Children can learn English and Maths, Art and PE, as well as going on school trips to places like the Science Club. The Rainbow Club encourages children to learn and engage, as well as interacting with others in the local community.

Not only does Tom have an incredible bond with everyone he works with, including the Rainbow Club users and their families, he is so helpful to the rest of the charity. Tom’s communication is fantastic and he constantly goes above and beyond – helping out no matter who is asking and no matter whether the request is within his remit. He is a constant presence in nearly every project and has so much energy and dedication to the charity.

Lisa Dixon, SCOPE

Lisa’s been a valued member of the Whitby team for well over a decade, carrying out a wide variety of tasks. Always the first to offer assistance, Lisa is reliable to the core. She’s gone above and beyond what was expected of her in her volunteer role, taking on new responsibilities to become a fantastic “buddy” to new volunteers starting in the shop. She happily shares her knowledge in an incredibly kind and easily understood way. This is especially important when Lisa is supporting new disabled volunteers who require easily understood volunteer induction information.

She helps to make volunteering with SCOPE more accessible to everyone so that our charity can embrace diversity and include more disabled people as volunteers.

We are lucky to read stories like this every day, and luckier still to be able to give something back to the inspirational people behind them. We do not place any criteria on who can be nominated, leaving it entirely up to the charities to decide who to put forward.

The impact

Our rapid expansion as a charity has confirmed there is a place and need for Room to Reward and our unique volunteer recognition scheme in the charity sector. Whilst statistics show that less than 2% of people stop volunteering because they feel unappreciated, feedback from our charity partners demonstrates that being able to gift a special ‘thank you’ to special volunteers has been invaluable.

Then there’s the Hidden Heroes themselves:

Sometimes in life you don’t realise what you’ve achieved until somebody else says: ‘Hey, look what you’ve done!’ And that’s what the nomination to Room to Reward gave me. It made me think: ‘Wow, I really have done something here that made a difference.'
Hidden Hero, Macmillan Caring Locally
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Regarding what the nomination has meant to us, it is one of the kindest gestures of thanks we have ever received. I can’t honestly remember the last time we had a relaxing break away properly and with finances being tight it was looking very unlikely for this year too. As with all 16-year olds, my son’s upmost thoughts are with GCSE exams this summer, but with his Asperger’s and the anxiety levels this unfortunately is an even more stressful time for him than most. This short break after his exams has given him something positive to look forward too. I cannot express enough how grateful we are for your kindness and support. Thank you.
Hidden Hero, Mind Dorset
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The future?

Our targets for the future are simple – more hotels, more charities, more nominations, more Hidden Heroes recognised. We are closing in on £100,000 worth of hotel stays donated and aim to hit £1million in the next five years. We are 220+ Hidden Heroes down, and a lot, lot more to go.

For more information on how Room to Reward is helping to recognise exceptional volunteers, visit our website – www.roomtoreward.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or email joe@roomtoreward.org.

The Room to Reward team

The team behind Room to Reward are: Adam Terpening (director of charity), Joe Langtree (marketing manager) and Katy Hamer (development and outreach officer)