Some Holiday Events Already Cancelled; Union Warns That Hotels May Not Give Customers Advance Notice of Strikes & Service Disruptions

Hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE Local 2 issued a holiday travel alert as a months-long strike continued to roil the San Francisco hotel industry. Thousands of Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt workers are on strike at hotels accounting for approx. 27.5% of San Francisco’s hotel rooms, and they say they are prepared to continue striking through the holidays and into the new year. The union warns that hotels where workers are on strike have already cancelled Christmas events – like the beloved Santa Afternoon Tea at the Palace Hotel – and may not notify travelers in advance of the ongoing labor dispute.

Many guests have reported that hotels failed to notify them in advance of raucous picket lines and disruptions including trash, used towels, and used linens piled up in hallways; unavailable daily housekeeping; closed bars and restaurants, and more. The union has called on hotels to notify guests if they are booked at a hotel where workers are on strike and offer a refund, and urged guests not to eat, sleep, or meet at any hotel that's on strike.

The strike began on Sept. 22 and includes 2,500 housekeepers, servers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, bellhops, doormen, and more at the following hotels:

• Grand Hyatt San Francisco
• Hilton San Francisco Union Square
• Palace Hotel (Marriott Luxury Collection)
• San Francisco Marriott Marquis
• San Francisco Marriott Union Square
• Westin St. Francis (Marriott)

Additional strikes have been authorized by 1,650 workers at eight other San Francisco Bay Area hotels and could begin at any time. The union has created a travel guide and a live Labor Dispute Map at FairHotel.org, where guests can search hotels by name or city to learn whether a hotel is on strike and find alternatives.

“We’re issuing a holiday travel alert because we don’t want this strike to ruin anybody’s holiday season,” said Lizzy Tapia, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “Months ago, we called on hotels to do right by guests, notify them of strikes, and offer refunds – but unfortunately, they rarely do. Nobody wants to spend the holidays at a hotel when you have to take out your own trash, restock your own sheets and towels, or deal with shuttered restaurants.”

“There’s nothing I love more than serving guests during Santa Afternoon Tea, but the holiday festivities are cancelled this year because all of us staff are on strike,” said Elena Duran, a server at Marriott’s Palace Hotel. “The hotels’ demands are so extreme that we’re ready to strike through the holidays and into the new year if that’s what it takes to win.”

Hotel workers with the UNITE HERE Local 2 union are asking the hotels to “Bet on SF” by investing in hotel staff and restoring guest services. In August, workers offered to sacrifice most guaranteed wage increases and make their own pay contingent on future hotel profits if the hotels agreed to reverse COVID-era service cuts. They want hotels to reopen restaurants that bring foot traffic downtown, staff up on doormen who serve as eyes on the street, and take other proactive measures to end the “doom loop.” The hotels have not agreed and are proposing to phase out workers’ union health care.

The union has warned that the hotel’s extreme negotiating positions threaten the city’s economic recovery. Around two dozen clients that book room blocks and/or events have pulled their business from San Francisco hotels since the strike began. Major clients have pledged to book 25,000 room nights in San Francisco hotels beginning in 2025 but only if the strike is settled in time.

Over 10,000 hotel workers have gone on strike in eleven cities across the U.S. since Labor Day; San Francisco is the only city where workers remain on strike.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20241202164735/en/