“It’s not just trying to check off your marketing budget and say, ‘we’ve got to target the queer community, now on to the next one.’ But really figuring out long-term partnerships,” said Leung.
Internal culture and diversity
Wills pointed out that, internally, encouraging inclusive language and getting everybody on the same page on what’s culturally acceptable is important. Booking.com uses its Employee Resource Group (ERG) to address this.
Similarly, Hyslop highlighted the value of having sincere conversations with compassion to ensure that people from the community feel embraced within a company’s culture.
“Everybody comes from such different countries where something acceptable in one country is not acceptable where they are now,” said Wills. “Have real representation from the community on these ERGs on how they’re supported by the company. It starts from within.”
