The 10,000 hotel workers who staged Labor Day weekend walkouts across nine U.S. cities had returned to their posts by Sept. 4, but the possibility of further strikes remain on the table if contract negotiations reach another impasse.
And according to industry insiders, the road to a final resolution could be long.
The strikes, organized by the labor union Unite Here, affected 25 properties operated by major chains -- including Hilton, Hyatt and Marriott International -- in Baltimore; Boston; Honolulu and Kauai, Hawaii; San Diego, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif.; Seattle; and Greenwich, Conn.
Each city's strike lasted one to three days, collectively marking Unite Here's most widespread series of hotel strikes to date.
The walkouts followed unresolved contract negotiations, with hotel workers demanding higher wages, fairer staffing levels and the reversal of service cuts that were implemented during the pandemic. Those cuts have resulted in job losses and increased workloads for remaining staff, the union claims.
"The hotel industry is making record profits while workers and guests are left behind," Gwen Mills, international president of Unite Here, said in a statement. "Too many hotels still haven't restored standard services that guests deserve, like automatic daily housekeeping and room service."
Mills also said that many hotel employees are struggling to make ends meet in expensive urban markets.
"Workers aren't making enough to support their families," she said. "Many can no longer afford to live in the cities that they welcome guests to."
David Sherwyn, academic director of the Cornell Center for Innovative Hospitality Labor and Employment Relations, agreed that those service cuts have altered the hospitality landscape, resulting in reduced work hours and paychecks.
"People at the bell stand have been cut because we all have rollers on our suitcases," Sherwyn said. "The front desk has fewer people because so many hotels now have electronic check-in, and food and beverage outlets have reduced their hours because of DoorDash and Uber Eats."
As for daily housekeeping, Sherwyn suggests that union workers have largely won this point of contention with automatic daily housekeeping restored across most full-service, unionized hotels. Negotiations now center on the nuances of the policy, he said.
"It's really about how will the issue be communicated between guest and front desk," Sherwyn said, underscoring the distinction between asking a guest, "Would you like your room cleaned?" and saying, "If you don't want your room cleaned, we'll give you loyalty points."
Sherwyn pointed out, however, that hotel operators face their own hurdles, citing increased operating costs and a lagging recovery in markets like San Francisco, where strikes occurred at the Grand Hyatt at SFO, Grand Hyatt San Francisco, Hilton San Francisco Union Square, Westin St. Francis and the Palace Hotel (a property in Marriott's Luxury Collection).
Marriott didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Hyatt's head of labor relations for the Americas, Michael D'Angelo, issued a statement emphasizing the company's "long history of cooperation" with unions like Unite Here.
"We are disappointed that Unite Here has chosen to strike while Hyatt remains willing to continue bargaining in good faith," said D'Angelo, adding that the company has extended offers of "competitive wages, healthcare and retirement benefits" to workers at strike-affected Hyatt hotels.
"We look forward to continuing to negotiate fair contracts and recognize the contributions of Hyatt employees," he said.
Hilton also chimed in, with a company spokesperson emphasizing the company's commitment to making "every effort to maintain a cooperative and productive relationship with the unions that represent some of our team members."
Whether offers such as these will be enough to satisfy workers remains to be seen.
According to Sherwyn, what unfolds over the next week or two will be critical in determining whether these disputes are resolved quickly or lead to a more prolonged conflict.
"If what we see are intermittent strikes without any resolution, then we're looking at something that could go on for a long time," said Sherwyn. He pointed to last summer's drawn-out contract talks in Southern California, which ultimately yielded significant gains for Unite Here members, including a $5 hourly wage increase in the first year and a path for room attendants to reach $35 per hour by mid-2027.
Public sentiment could also play a major factor. While recent high-profile union disputes like last year's United Auto Workers strike garnered widespread support, the hospitality industry presents a unique challenge, according to Sherwyn.
"Hotels are much more customer-facing than auto manufacturers," he said, suggesting that the public's response may be less predictable in this case.
"We seem to be seeing some muscle-flexing right now, and that flexing is effective so far," Sherwyn said. "If they get a lot of public support, it makes those muscles even stronger. But people could say, 'You know what, I don't want to deal with this,' and then their leverage isn't as strong. It could go either way."