The Institute of Hospitality has launched a new online Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging (DEIB) course aimed at managers across the hospitality sector, offering accredited professional development that connects inclusive leadership principles to the realities of day-to-day operations. Available free to members and accessible to non-members for a fee, the course marks a significant expansion of the Institute’s CPD portfolio at a moment when the sector’s inclusion commitments are increasingly scrutinised.
Developed in collaboration with The Crumbs Project, a Bournemouth-based charity that supports adults with disabilities and neurodivergences through hospitality-based vocational training, and eHotelier, a global hospitality education provider, the course is delivered through the Institute’s online learning platform. The collaboration brings together a professional body, a frontline inclusion charity and a specialist e-learning operator, reflecting an intent to ground the course in lived practice rather than theoretical frameworks.
From policy to practice
The course is structured around practical application. It covers approaches to recruitment, training delivery, workplace adjustments and policy development, with an explicit focus on how managers can implement inclusive practices consistently across teams rather than treating DEIB as a compliance exercise or communications activity.
Outcomes identified by the Institute include improvements in team morale, employee engagement and retention. The course also supports managers in reviewing existing practices, facilitating team discussions on inclusion and setting measurable targets for cultural improvement. For senior leaders overseeing multiple properties or departments, the emphasis on operational consistency addresses a recurring challenge in large hospitality organisations.
The timing is instructive. An IoH DEIB survey published in October 2025 found that 84 per cent of hospitality organisations reported having a DEIB strategy in place. Yet 56 per cent had no dedicated DEIB lead, pointing to a significant gap between stated commitment and structural investment. The new course does not replace senior resourcing; it equips middle managers to carry inclusion work forward without depending on a central specialist.
A meaningful partnership
The Crumbs Project’s involvement gives the course a depth of sector-specific credibility that distinguishes it from generic management training. The charity’s programmes are themselves endorsed by the Institute of Hospitality, and its trainees have achieved employment rates exceeding 90 per cent in the hospitality industry, with participants three times more likely to remain in employment after two years than non-disabled peers. This operational track record provides concrete grounding for the course’s content on workplace adjustments and inclusive recruitment.
Robert Richardson FIH MI, Chief Executive of the Institute of Hospitality, positioned the launch within the industry’s broader professional development direction: “Hospitality is a people-focused industry and the way organisations support and develop their teams continues to evolve. This course has been developed to provide managers with practical guidance to support inclusive working environments and consistent team performance.”
Aymen Fetouak MIH, Head of Professional Development at the Institute, emphasised the operational focus: “The course focuses on how inclusive leadership can be applied in practice. It is designed to support managers in their day-to-day roles, with a clear focus on team culture, communication and operational delivery.”
Professor Peter A. Jones MBE FCGI FIH, Chairman of The Crumbs Project, offered a perspective rooted in the industry’s longer history: “DEIB isn’t new but is absolutely central to hospitality. Over 15 centuries ago, St Benedict best described it as welcoming, humble, attentive, caring for the individual and valuing work. This course, like St Benedict’s guidance, offers a modern guide to truly inclusive hospitality.”
Inclusion as a workforce strategy
The business case for DEIB investment has become more precise in recent years. Research indicates that inclusive companies generate significantly higher cash flow per employee and that employees who feel a genuine sense of belonging are substantially more likely to be engaged at work. For a sector characterised by high turnover and persistent recruitment pressure, inclusive workplace culture is not a secondary concern. It is a retention mechanism.
The hospitality workforce’s structural diversity makes this particularly relevant. Front-of-house, back-of-house and support functions often operate across significant differences in language, background, age and ability. Managers who can navigate that complexity equitably are better placed to build teams with lower attrition and stronger guest-facing performance.
The course’s connection to team performance and guest experience, explicitly cited by the Institute, recognises this interdependency. Inclusion initiatives that remain disconnected from operational outcomes tend to stall; those embedded in everyday management practice tend to sustain.
The DEIB for Managers course is now live on the Institute of Hospitality’s online learning platform. Members can access it free of charge using the code AFFIOHDEIB. Non-members can enrol directly through the eHotelier website. For an industry still closing the gap between DEIB ambition and operational delivery, the course offers a structured route to close it.
