Four months into his traineeship at Mercure Canberra, 38-year-old Joshua Kinsey Ward shares the independence, friendships, and professionalism reshaping his future.

Earlier this year, Canberra Daily visited Mercure Canberra to discuss the launch of Hotel Etico Australia, a hospitality social enterprise and supported-living program for young adults living with disability.

As part of the program, trainees spend two nights a week living in the dedicated Hotel Etico wing of Mercure Canberra and are allocated shifts across various departments, including room service, housekeeping, restaurant and events.

There are currently ten trainees in Canberra.

Joshua Kinsey Ward commenced his traineeship in March.

Joshua, who lives with Down syndrome, was finishing a four-hour breakfast shift in the hotel’s Courtyard Restaurant where he was cleaning tables and chairs and resetting them for the next sitting. However, after providing a warm welcome, he was happy to share his progress after four months living and working at Mercure Canberra.

Apart from his continuing improvement, “… ironing my own clothes,” Joshua reports that one of the things he has learned is how to navigate relationships with people who also live with disability.

“What else have I learned?” Joshua says.

“To get along with other people, other people who have disabilities.”

Hotel Etico CEO and Co-founder Andrea Comastri says that this area of development in trainees, is a key element of the program’s success.

“The biggest gift we give them, is the confidence in themselves,” he says.

“It is beautiful to watch.”

Mr Comastri added that although Joshua arrived as a fairly confident young man, he is definitely learning new skills.

“Josh is always the first one to jump onto promotional activities … he is an events person, and we have a great relationship with Josh,” he says.

“But also, there is lots of professionalism. He understands what his responsibilities are.”

Hotel General Manager Lukas Wilfling reports that Joshua and his trainee colleagues are an asset to the Mercure.

“Josh’s main strength, besides being a hard worker, is just that he’s so talkative,” says Mr Wilfling.

“He just loves hanging out with guests, … he is … genuine.”

Josh says that his dad, “…put that into me”.

Mr Wilfling added that he has had nothing but good feedback from guests about Joshua and the Hotel Etico trainees.

“All the feedback I’ve received from guests is very positive and encouraging,” he says.

Mr Wilfling says that what trainees like Josh bring to the guest experience is something that used to be a fundamental of hotel customer service, “people taking time out of their day to have a conversation with guests… and provide that genuine care for people”.

“Having the trainees here brings life and soul back into an old building,” he says.

“It brings joy. It is really heartwarming.”

Mr Wilfling adds that the life and soul the trainees add to the Mercure Canberra environment has become harder to find otherwise.

Yet Mr Comastri says that people with disability are routinely written off as “less productive”.

“That’s the wrong measure entirely — the real value is diversity, culture, and the commercial edge of being a genuinely inclusive employer.”

Hotel Etico Australia has supported 70 trainees since its launch in Australia and now employs 57 staff across the hotel and program, including 25 current trainees; proof that disability employment scales when the model is right.

The programturns NDIS-funded training into tax-paying employment, cutting long-term support costs while filling a hospitality industry crying out for staff.

“All but three of our trainees have graduated, and of those, 80% have secured employment in the hotel industry, or with other employers,” says Mr Comastri.

Mr Comastri emphasised that a large part of Hotel Etico’s success is due to the inclusion of independent living skills in the program.

“We push a lot of boundaries and innovate a lot,” he says.

“It is something that is not done out there.

“The fact that it is not just work skills … but independent living skills together, we believe and know from evidence, that this is one of the key factors to the success rate that we are achieving.”

As a result of this success, Mr Comastri was a finalist in last year’s Kismet Awards for Health and Disability Services, and entries for the 2026 awards close on 17 July.

According to Joshua, everyone should be nominating Mr Comastri again this year.

“I love this guy very much. He is one of the best CEO’s I’ve ever worked with,” says Joshua.