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"Travelife Case Study: Maldives

It was identified through a Travelife audit of a third-party hotel partner in the Maldives, that the hotel was holding foreign employees’ passports at their head office on a different island than its resorts, what could be considered as a form of bonded labour. It is not believed that the company was doing this with the intention of stopping their employees from leaving the company. The reasons given for this practice were that the company periodically needs the passports to renew work permits and that this was the best way to keep passports safe as staff accommodation did not have personal lockers (employees could ask for their passports at any time).

The Travelife Standard has a criterion specifically addressing the issue of withholding staff passports. It was important to the hotel group that the option of storing passports in a safe deposit box was still available to employees. A new process was agreed and implemented; employees are no longer asked to hand over their passport when beginning work, all passports were returned to employees and there is an option to keep in a safe deposit box onsite.

Our requirement for sustainability certifications and Travelife’s auditing processes helped turn this situation around for workers at the hotel and affect changes in hotel operations."