Hotels May Not Warn Travelers About Strikes; Union Wants Guests to Be Prepared for Possibility of Widespread Disruptions to Hotel Stays

Hotel workers’ union UNITE HERE today published a guide of travel tips to help hotel guests plan for possible strikes across the United States. Thousands of hotel workers in nine cities have now authorized strikes at Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, and Omni hotels, but hotels rarely notify guests of a strike, and travelers sometimes learn of a strike only upon arriving at their hotel and being met by a boisterous picket line. The union launched the travel guide ahead of Labor Day weekend, when millions of Americans are planning travel.

The guide advises travelers to understand how a trip could affect their stay – including protests and the potential for reduced hotel services – and to be proactive about staying updated on the status of labor disputes. The union has created a website called FairHotel.org where travelers can search hotels by name or city to learn whether a hotel is at risk of a strike, on strike, or under boycott and find alternative hotels that are not subject to a labor dispute.

The guide recommends that in the event of a strike, guests should cancel their stay immediately and demand a refund without a cancellation fee; hotels have been in contract negotiations with the union for months and have long known about the potential for disputes. Guests traveling as part of a conference, wedding, or other event should contact the event organizer, who can ask the hotel to insert protective language into the event contract.

Hotel workers voted overwhelmingly in favor of authorizing strikes at hotels where workers are locked in unresolved contract negotiations in Baltimore, Boston, Honolulu, Greenwich, New Haven, Providence, San Francisco, San Jose, and Seattle. Strike votes are upcoming in Oakland and San Diego. Strikes could begin any time after contracts expire; contracts in some cities have already expired, while the rest expire by the end of the month.

Hotel workers are calling for higher wages, fair staffing and workloads, and the reversal of COVID-era cuts. The union says that too many hotels took advantage of the pandemic to cut staffing and guest services like automatic daily housekeeping and room service, causing workers to lose income and creating painful working conditions for those who carry the increased workload.

The U.S. hotel industry made over $100 billion in gross operating profit in 2022. Meanwhile, U.S. hotel staffing per occupied room was down 13% from 2019 to 2022. Last year, UNITE HERE members won record contracts after rolling strikes at Los Angeles hotels and a 47-day strike at Detroit casinos.

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