Where are hotel workers striking right now? From Honolulu to Boston — what to know

Rolling hotel worker strikes affected hotels in major cities across the U.S. over the Labor Day holiday weekend and into this week.

While most of those strikes are winding down — more on that below — travelers to several major U.S. cities, including Honolulu, Boston and San Francisco, should still be prepared for possible disruptions to hotel stays as thousands of hotel workers look for new labor contracts with their employers. Workers at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront have even decided to remain on strike until a deal is struck.

Around the country, labor unions representing hotel workers have been negotiating for higher wages, better working conditions and more employee protections. After many hotel labor contracts expired Aug. 31, local chapters of Unite Here, a major hospitality industry-focused union, voted to authorize strikes and approved walkouts until a new agreement is reached.

"People who come to Hawaii save up for months, if not years, to come on vacation and have a certain kind of experience, and I think our short-term strike gave our guests a taste of not just what it feels like when there's a labor issue, but more importantly, the value of the contributions we make every day to make our hotel successful," said Cade Watanabe, president of Unite Here Local 5, the labor union representing striking hotel workers in Honolulu.

What hotels are considering striking?

Over the Labor Day holiday weekend, more than 10,000 hotel workers went on strike in 23 hotels across eight U.S. cities.

Unite Here 2 (a union that represents over 15,000 hospitality workers in San Francisco, San Mateo County and the East and North Bay Area in California) has provided the list below of hotels where strikes are currently underway.

The specific details of each walkout usually differ depending on the specific property or group of workers taking strike action.

It's also worth noting that the details of the strike are subject to change at any time, and more strikes may also be announced in due course. The national Unite Here organization noted Monday that the strikes have been authorized and "could begin at any time in New Haven, [Connecticut], Oakland, [California] and Providence, [Rhode Island]."

The Fair Hotel website has a tool where you can put in your destination and see a list of hotels that are "at risk" of striking, as shown in the image of Honolulu below.

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This is an evolving list, and it's highly recommended that you check the Fair Hotel website if you have upcoming stays in any of these areas.

If you're worried your hotel might be affected by the strikes, consider reaching out to the hotel directly to confirm what's happening and determine your options for canceling or rebooking. The hotel can also mention any arranged contingency plans that are in place for guests who do have to stay at the property.

Just note that even though strikes may be imminent, hotels are not necessarily required to inform guests of the disruptions, even if they seriously alter the overall hotel experience (i.e., no housekeeping or closed restaurants).

What if my hotel is on strike?

Hotel workers going on strike during your trip or vacation can throw a wrench into your plans. As such, there are a few things you should know about the situation.

First, while a hotel experiencing a strike might technically be open, it will likely run with an extremely scaled-back staff and bare-bones operations that will significantly impact your stay — especially at full-service resorts with multiple restaurants, beach services and the like. At the hotel, striking workers will likely be outside picketing rather than inside doing their usual day-to-day work.

Back in 2018, during a major strike at Marriott hotels around the U.S., TPG readers who stayed at striking Hawaii hotels told TPG that they experienced "terrible service," received no compensation and felt that the situation "ruined" their Hawaiian vacation. Others reported changing hotels after experiencing firsthand how derelict the service was.

Michael D'Angelo, vice president of labor relations at Hyatt, Americas, told TPG via email that "Hyatt hotels have contingency plans in place to minimize [the] impact on hotel operations related to potential strike activity."

"Hilton makes every effort to maintain a cooperative and productive relationship with the unions that represent some of our Team Members, and we remain committed to negotiating in good faith to reach fair and reasonable agreements that are beneficial to both our valued Team Members and to our hotels," a Hilton spokesperson told TPG.

The Hilton spokesperson added that the company is "fully committed to providing guests with our signature hospitality" and that its "hotels have contingency plans in place to ensure operations continue to run as smoothly as possible."

Representatives with Marriott and Accor did not respond to a request for comment before the time of publication.

Though it's not absolutely necessary, if your hotel is striking, it's highly advisable to consider rebooking at a hotel that's not in the middle of a labor dispute. This can help preserve your trip or vacation by ensuring access to all the amenities and services you'd expect from a hotel while preventing you from being accused by striking workers of crossing picket lines.

For travelers who might be affected, Unite Here has created a guide for preparing for hotel strikes:

"A strike means that the workers who would normally be cleaning your room, scrubbing your toilet, changing your sheets, cooking your food, and helping with your bags are instead picketing outside the hotel," according to the guide. "Hotels could suspend services while trying to operate with skeleton staffing, and picket lines will run outside the hotel for up to 24 hours a day. Do not eat, meet, or sleep at a hotel that's on strike."

If you booked a hotel directly, call your hotel as soon as possible and see if you can cancel your stay. Even if you booked a nonrefundable reservation, let the hotel know you've heard about the situation and would like a refund out of good faith without a cancellation fee or any penalty.

Before rebooking, research what other hotels in the area might also be on strike to avoid a similar situation.

If all else fails and it feels like your trip is falling apart, it might be time to turn to your travel insurance policy, whether booked independently, through a hotel or as part of your credit card, to determine if a hotel strike is covered through your specific policy.

Why most hotel strikes are ending — for now

While the current batch of strikes is winding down, it's impossible to say how long the threat of future strikes will loom over the U.S. travel orbit. Unite Here's local unions will hold out as long as necessary for a contract that makes sense for the employees who are "calling for higher wages, fair staffing and workloads, and the reversal of COVID-era cuts."

But, for now, the strikes are significantly less disruptive to hotel operations — save for the open-ended strike at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront — than a 2018 hotel worker strike where more than 7,700 workers across 23 U.S. Marriott-affiliated hotels from October through early December of that year went on strike.

"We will see what happens, but we wanted to make every effort to be able to call out the systemic issues that we deal with all over the place, with limited staffing and the Covid era cuts," Watanabe said. "But more importantly, we're in the business of hospitality. We want our guests to return.

"Our strikes are also about the guests, and we need our employers to respect us and respect our guests," he continued. "We're ready to do whatever it takes to win, obviously, and we'll see what comes during the coming days and months in terms of what that needs to look like."

This means that, with expired contracts and the threat of future strikes, potential hotel disruptions could pop up during the busy fall travel season. But there's still time to reach a deal before a worst-case scenario emerges.

"Our colleagues are the heart of our business, and Hyatt has a long history of cooperation with the unions that represent our employees, including Unite Here," D'Angelo said. "We remain optimistic that mutually beneficial agreements can be reached without strikes, and we look forward to continuing to negotiate fair contracts and recognize the contributions of Hyatt employees."