As mobile citizens, we travel the world, explore cities, and reach most destinations easily. It got us thinking: what makes us so lucky? The answer is ‘mobility’. It’s even in our name. For us, mobility is readily accessible, something we don't really think about. You could say we take it for granted. But for some, mobility is not only hard to achieve, it's also a luxury they simply cannot afford.

Thinking about these challenges led us to establish our charity: the citizenMovement Foundation. It's founded on one of our values: real caring. We thought real caring shouldn't just stay within our four walls. It should make a difference to people who have never been, and perhaps never will be, citizenM guests.

We want to inspire our employees, guests and neighbours to help others. Our mission: to shorten the distance between people and opportunities by giving them the gift of mobility.

We seek out organisations who share the same philosophy as we do. Since 2018, we have been working with a partner who continually impresses with their vision and plans – World Bicycle Relief (WBR). citizenMovement charity supports their goal of changing the world, one bicycle at a time.

Supporting any charity shouldn't be complicated. So we made it really, really simple to get involved, without even opening your wallet.

Every time you stay at a citizenM hotel, you have an option to say 'no' to a room cleaning. When you do that, we will donate 3 EUR to citizenMovement – on your behalf. That's it, easy and simple. And there's an added benefit – your stay is also kinder to the environment.

The room cleaning schedule will be presented to you on the room iPad, or on your own smartphone via our free app after check-in. Pick it up – the choice is yours.

In a nutshell, all you have to do is... make a decision, and we will take care of the rest. Take an action to cause a reaction.

First, when you choose to say 'no' to a room cleaning, a simple thing happens – we donate 3 EUR on your behalf to citizenMovement. And, like all good things in life, it's not the only reaction in the chain.

There is a benefit to the environment too. Less room cleaning means we take fewer trips to our laundry provider, use less energy, water, detergents and cleaning supplies. In making these decisions, we were hugely inspired by our guests' feedback. In the summer of 2021, we officially asked them to take part in our first-ever environmental survey, They ranked saying ‘no thanks’ to housekeeping for stays under four nights a huge 7.8 out of 10. When choosing a hotel, 75% of the respondents said it's important their hotel takes sustainability actions, with 'energy use' in the top 3 of the most important factors.

The pandemic had already forced us (and nearly the entire hotel industry) to introduce on-demand room cleaning in the interest of safety. citizenM adapted the 'after every third night’ cleaning model (with extra days on request, at no additional fee). It turned out, our guests love having that choice – so we will continue giving them that option.

The good deeds kick off, with 1,680 bicycles going to Malawi and 1,057 to Kenya. Read the 2019 report here.

Nothing's gonna stop us, not even the Covid-19 pandemic. In 2020, 500 bikes went to Malawi, 681 to Kenya. Read the 2020 report here.

In 2021, citizenMovement launched a new housekeeping campaign. Find out how it helps support our life-changing work in this annual report. Read the 2021 report here.

citizenMovement funded 2152 bikes last year for communities in Malawi's Kasungu and Zomba districts. Read the 2022 report here!

If you are interested in the citizenMovement strategy, you will find it here.