Union Warns Hotels’ “Shameful Negotiating Tactics” Threaten SF’s Economic Future

San Francisco, Calif. — At a march on Wednesday, thousands of striking hotel workers called on hotel companies to “Bet on SF” and settle contracts before hotel strikes expand and continue into 2025, jeopardizing future bookings in San Francisco. Hotel workers at two additional hotels, the Marriott-operated St. Regis San Francisco and W San Francisco, announced they will take strike votes on Thursday; if authorized, 435 workers at those hotels could strike at any time, joining approx. 2,000 San Francisco hotel workers on strike at Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott hotels. The union also announced that four major clients have pledged to book 25,000 room nights in San Francisco hotels beginning in 2025 if the strike is settled in time.

Click here for B-roll and photos of the march, courtesy of UNITE HERE Local 2.

Striking hotel workers with the UNITE HERE Local 2 union have warned that the hotel’s extreme negotiating positions threaten the city’s economic recovery; major conventions have already signaled that they will cancel bookings or take future business to other cities to avoid staying at striking hotels. Around two dozen clients that book room blocks and/or events have pulled their business from San Francisco hotels since the strike began nearly two months ago, including Lufthansa, which moved an estimated 22,900 room nights per year from the Hilton San Francisco Union Square.

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 “Bet on SF” by reversing COVID-era service cuts. San Francisco’s tourism industry has been slow to recover from the pandemic, and workers say the hotel industry is holding the city back through disinvestment and understaffing. They want hotels to reopen restaurants that bring foot traffic downtown, staff up on bellmen and 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.

If hotels’ negotiation positions prolong the labor dispute, the union says it could blunt momentum for a recovery. “San Francisco citywide room nights are pacing up 40 percent [from 2024 to 2025] …. We’re really encouraged by the way it’s pacing for 2025,” said the CFO of Host Hotels & Resorts on a recent earnings call. Workers decided not to strike during Salesforce’s Dreamforce 2024 conference because it made a commitment to stay in San Francisco for three more years.

The Informed Meetings Exchange, the Netroots Nation Conference, SEIU, and the Union Lawyers Alliance Conference have also committed to bring conferences to San Francisco beginning in 2025 – if the strikes are settled in time. The events represent 25,000 room nights for San Francisco hotels.

“San Francisco hotels are playing with fire,” said Lizzy Tapia, President of UNITE HERE Local 2. “Workers are proposing proactive measures to end the ‘doom loop’ and have even offered to forgo guarantee wage increases and make our pay conditional on hotel profits – but in return, the hotels are threatening our health care. Hilton, Hyatt, and Marriott have made huge profits in San Francisco, but now that we’re facing tough times, they refuse to invest back into the city. Hotel workers are betting on SF, and we will remain defiant in the face of these shameful negotiating tactics.”

“I work hard to welcome visitors to San Francisco, and I want my hotel to invest in this city,” said Maggie Huang, a housekeeper at Marriott’s Westin St. Francis. “We are very professional and pay attention to what the guests need. We really care about the guests, but I don’t think the hotel cares about us. I am ready to strike as long as it takes for the hotels to reverse the cuts, pay us fairly, and maintain our health care.”

The strike currently includes 2,000 housekeepers, servers, bartenders, cooks, dishwashers, bellhops, doormen, and more at the Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Marriott Union Square, Palace Hotel, and Westin St. Francis. Additional strikes have already been authorized by 1,850 workers at an additional seven hotels, and 435 workers at the St. Regis San Francisco and W Hotel, both Marriott properties, will take strike votes on Thurs., Nov. 21.

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.

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UNITE HERE Local 2 is the hospitality workers’ union in San Francisco, San Mateo County, and the East and North Bay, representing over 15,000 workers in hotels, restaurants, tech cafeterias, sports stadiums, and at SFO and OAK.