About Us
The Hotel Etico Employment and Independence Program offers a pathway to greater independence, paid work, skills development and employment opportunities for young adults aged 18 to 35 with disability and additional support needs who are ready for the next step.
The program is designed for young adults aged 18 to 35 with disability and additional support needs who are ready to build confidence, independence and work skills in a supportive environment. We are able tosupport a range of disability and additional support needs, including neurodiversity, and take an individual approach to understanding whether the program is the right fit and how to best support each person.
With a rolling intake, families can begin the process throughout the year rather than waiting for a single annual start date.
Confidence, wellbeing and life skills grow alongside work skills in a real-world environment.
Young people who join the Hotel Etico Employment and Independence Program build confidence, independence and social skills through real routines, real responsibility and real work, whilst building relationships with other trainees. This is about both participation and growing the skills needed for work and everyday life.
Trainees gain hands on hospitality experience across areas across different areas of the hotels, building both practical and people skills.
Alongside hospitality training, trainees practise independent living skills such as laundry, cleaning, shopping and everyday routines using structured, visual step-by-steps and support alongside them when needed.
Supported independent living in a real-world setting
At the heart of the program is supported independent living in the Academy of Independence®, where trainees stay in an en-suite room during their rostered days and practise everyday life skills in a shared living environment.
Trainees follow a rotating weekly roster that currently includes either two days and two nights or three days and two nights. This varies acr0oss depending on locations. During the rostered days, they stay at a dedicated on-site apartment.
Our vision for change
- We enable people with a disability to live a life of dignity and independence through work.
- We empower employers to create diverse and inclusive workplaces.
- We work to break down prejudices about the talents of people with a disability one stay at a time.
Our Locations
The Hotel Etico Employment and Independence Program currently operates in two locations, one in in Leura, NSW and the other in Canberra, ACT. We combine supported living, hands-on paid work experience, trainingand a pathway to further employment opportunities within the tourism and hospitality industry.
Our Impact So Far
- 70 Trainees have completed or participated in the programme
- 95% have graduated from the programme
- 80% have transitioned to industry employment
- 27 employment partners
Our training methods result in three times the success rate of traditional inclusive employment training. A minimum of 75% of our graduates are employed at any given time where traditional training methods only achieve an employment rate of between 25% and 30%.
Our Team
Our staff are carefully selected based on hospitality and disability experience, personal values and alignment with our mission. All staff complete NDIS training and orientation in addition to the Working with Children Check and Criminal Record Check.
We employ disability support workers who are available at a ratio of 1:1, 1:2 or 1:3 during waking hours, with one disability support worker (or more depending on need) sleeping onsite.
For a details of our Leadership Team click here.
Joyful Work and Joyful Learning Report
In 2025, Hospitality and Tourism researchers at Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School and Torrens University Australia partnered with Hotel Etico to provide evidence-based research on Hotel Etico’sinnovative approach to inclusive employment. The research highlighted the transformative impact of Hotel Etico’s model.
Click here to view the full report.
Our Origins
Hotel Etico Australia is the first not-for-profit social enterprise hotel group staffed by people with disability. We are focused on delivering premium hospitality service, whilst facilitating a work, training and live-in program for young adults with disabilities.
Our mission is to train and empower people with disability to contribute in the Australian workforce and live more independent lives. We provide hospitality and independent living skill training, enabling our trainees to transition to open employment. Through this mission we seek to challenge individuals, employers and the community at large to be more inclusive of people with disability.
The vision for Hotel Etico emerged in Italy from the dream of a young man with Down Syndrome called Niccolò Vallese. In 2006, Niccolò started an internship at Tacabanda Ristorante – owned and operated by brothers Antonio and Egidio De Benedetto. It was the pair’s first experience dealing with a person who had an intellectual disability and they didn’t know what to expect, but it didn’t take long for them to see how Niccolò was flourishing and the remarkable potential he had as a hospitality professional. The De Benedetto brothers suddenly understood the need to remove the barriers that prevent people with disabilities from achieving their full potential. They asked Niccolò one day what he hoped for in the future and he responded: “My dream is to work in a hotel”.
Hotel Etico began in Asti Italy in 2015, with the opening of the world’s first social enterprise hotel offering training and employment for people with disabilities. Niccolo Vellese, a young man with Down Syndrome had a passion for hospitality and helped inspire the Etico model.
When the Etico model came to Australia, our goal was to create a brand identity that honoured our Italian roots, while reflecting the local culture and our deep respect for Country. The Hotel Etico Australia logo merges the Italian and Australian stories.
A persimmon tree inside a human brain, representing transformation through learning, is paired with a symbol from Spirit of the Land: the yarning circle. Together, they create a logo that’s simple yet rich in meaning, capturing our commitment to transformation, collaboration and inclusion.
Hotel Etico Worldwide
The Story of Our Logo
Have you ever wondered what our logo means and how it was created?
It begins with Albergo Etico in Italy, where the model was born. The first trainee was Niccolò, a young man with Down Syndrome who, after finishing a hospitality course, asked a chef in Asti for a job. Antonio gave him a chance and discovered a world of potential in people with disability. That moment sparked the Etico story. Our restaurant is named Niccolò in his honour, as the person who inspired it all.
The original Italian logo is a stylised persimmon tree. Persimmons symbolise luck, prosperity, perseverance, patience, and hard work, which is why they were chosen. The tree features 21 fruits, representing chromosome 21, associated with Down Syndrome, also known as Trisomy 21.
The tree is set within a stylised brain, with an arrow at its base representing the “Download method” developed by Chef Antonio — a play on words referring to transferring skills and knowledge from trainer to trainee.
While meaningful, the original artwork was too complex for a logo. For Hotel Etico Australia, we “picked” a single persimmon and combined it with the dot art yarning circle, often seen in Elsie’s work. A yarning circle reflects dialogue, shared learning, and the building of strong, respectful relationships.
From these elements, we created a logo that is simple, meaningful, and distinct.
It was also designed to evolve. The location line can change as we expand across Australia. Recently, we have used a version with “Australia” instead of “Blue Mountains” to represent the broader group, while future locations will carry their own place name.
Timber versions of both the Italian and Australian symbols are displayed in our office, alongside a framed artwork by Elsie Randall.
Our Theory of Change