It takes collaboration across a community to develop better skills for better lives, believes Dale Smith, CEO of holiday home management firm Host & Stay.
By joining forces with local organisations, Dale hopes to get to the heart of the areas Host & Stay operates in – and that outreach is beginning through a love of the beautiful game.
Kicking off a new partnership
Football is a unique sport. Its heavy focus on the fans often means it’s the heart of a community and, in many cases, it’s the longest relationship people have had. Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday are popular clubs, drawing around 50,000 supporters to their matches each week between them, and both are well-established, having been founded over a hundred years ago.
This long-established history and fan relationship is one of many reasons why we’re delighted to have been named as partners to these two great clubs for the current football season, signing deals that will bring key opportunities for Host & Stay, our employees and the wider community through engagement, club association, tickets and player activations.
By joining forces, our aim is to not only increase customer awareness, but also give back to the areas in which we operate. We’re hoping that these partnerships will enable us to get closer to communities through charitable donations, giving our time to volunteer, providing new jobs for local people and developing careers as we grow.
We have also pledged to support both clubs’ charity foundations, the MFC Foundation and the Sheffield Wednesday Foundation, by giving away our allocated matchday tickets to disadvantaged children and families who would otherwise not have the opportunity to watch a football match.
The residents of these underprivileged areas may not be able to attend the matches as often as they’d like, but that doesn’t mean the love of the game isn’t there. As a lifelong Middlesbrough fan myself, I know the joy going to a match brings, so to be able to provide that for others means a lot. But how do these partnerships tie into the wider business strategy and development of Host & Stay? Well, it all comes down to our purpose.
Fulfilling our purpose
While profit is undoubtedly important – after all, without it, we cannot create jobs – the ultimate aim of Host & Stay, and The SDDE Smith Group as a whole, is to have a positive impact on everything we do. Businesses form the backbone of any community because they bring people together, and we want to do all we can to build the character of the local area and help regional economies thrive.
Local identity
There’s a sense of pride in being part of a community, and for us, we are beyond proud to represent Teesside and the North as a whole. By bringing our products and services to the area, we are hoping to influence it for the betterment of its residents, making daily needs more accessible and increasing local revenue. With these football partnerships, we can help to form the identity of the local community and represent the important history of both Middlesbrough and Sheffield, both of which are crucial to the towns they serve. The clubs have helped to shape the character of the area, and our wish is to further encourage this, not only by connecting with individuals, but also by directly influencing tourism and creating a thriving community with our holiday homes.
Local jobs for local people
One of our key drivers is the ability to create jobs for the local community. Not only will this bring more money into the area, but it will also encourage more people to stay. This has a compounding effect, allowing people to work closer to home and improving the general quality of life for residents.
For us, the answer to the question of whether, as a business, we can do this is undoubtedly yes. We are fortunate to be in a position to make a difference to the people and the places we operate, and community-centred partnerships, such as the ones with Middlesbrough and Sheffield Wednesday, get us one step closer. The key for us is to come up with new ideas on how we can create positive changes in our communities.
We’re on a mission to push boundaries, to create better places to live, to work, and to stay, and we look forward to seeing ‘Boro supporters and The Owls at their matches soon.