The last thing holiday travelers want to worry about is whether the hotels where they've made reservations will be ready to welcome them.
Yet in several major tourism destinations — Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Francisco — striking hotel workers could pose problems for travelers. Visitors might not know about the disruptions until they arrive at the hotel desk.
Several weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, hundreds of hotel workers at Virgin (SPCE) Hotels, a hotel-casino near the Las Vegas Strip walked off the job. Then, just days before Thanksgiving, on Nov. 24, some 500 union workers at the San Francisco Marriott (MAR) Marquis — a hotel right in the prime shopping district — voted to strike.
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Workers at several other San Francisco Marriott properties, including the upscale St. Regis and W locations — also voted to authorize strikes. In each city, workers seek higher pay, better benefits and better working conditions.
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San Francisco Chronicle/Hearst Newspapers/Getty Images
Where travelers could experience hotel strikes in December
Hospitality strikes are problematic because they make the city even less attractive for both pleasure and business travel, especially in cities like San Francisco and Las Vegas, which are popular destinations for both kinds of travel.
The number of people who visit San Francisco has not yet reached pre-pandemic levels. In fact, San Francisco is facing one of the slowest post-pandemic recoveries in the country, and by some estimates, recovery of the downtown area could take twenty years. Many businesses and retailers have closed, and the central shopping and tourism areas have been especially hard hit.
In San Francisco, the hotel workers union, Unite Here, is asking hotel management to “Bet on SF” by investing in hotel staff and restoring guest services, Ted Waechter, a spokesperson for Unite Here told TheStreet exclusively.
"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," Waechter said.
According to Fair Hotel, hotels in many other cities — Chicago, Detroit, Washington D.C., and Cincinnati — have ongoing labor disputes that could evolve into strikes without much notice.
Fair Hotel is a labor union based in the United States and Canada that represents workers in hotels, gaming, food service, manufacturing, textile, distribution, laundry, transportation, and airports.
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Among other concessions, union reps in San Francisco are asking hotel management 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 instead proposing to phase out workers’ union health care.
Unite Here has also issued a holiday travel alert to warn visitors that thousands of workers are prepared to strike through Christmas and into the new year at hotels accounting for approximately 27.5% of San Francisco’s hotel rooms.
Hotels where workers are on strike have already canceled Christmas events, including the beloved Santa Afternoon Tea at the iconic Palace Hotel.
Travelers can check to see if hotel strikes are expected at their destination
Readers who are traveling to San Francisco should be aware that hotels may not notify them in advance of the ongoing labor dispute, said Waechter. "Many guests have reported that hotels failed to notify them (until they arrived for check-in!) of raucous picket lines and service disruptions, including trash, used towels, and used linens piled up in hallways; unavailable daily housekeeping; closed bars and restaurants, and more."
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 Union Square
- San Francisco Marriott Marquis
- Westin St. Francis (Marriott)
1,650 workers at eight other San Francisco Bay Area hotels have authorized additional strikes, which could begin at any time.
Visitors can view this live Labor Dispute Map and search hotels by name or by city to learn whether a hotel is on strike currently or dealing with labor disbutes.
Marriott did not respond to a request for comment.
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