Hotels don’t want United Airlines flight attendants as guests anymore. That’s the message that their union conveyed to crewmembers, as first reported by Paddle Your Own Kanoo.
The airline is increasingly having difficulty finding layover hotels that meet contractual requirements at a price the carrier is willing to pay, according to a message sent to flight attendants, because “many hotels simply don’t want crew business anymore.”
Unions bargain over details of hotel stays including whether flight attendants can be placed near an elevator or an ice machine. So they can’t just be treated as ‘run of house’ guests. Flight attendants are “more complicated guests than the average tourist” in the words of the union.
Hotels get guaranteed occupancy, but have to dedicate specific inventory and nonstandard check-in and check-out times. And they do this all at a discount because of the volume.
Even with hotel occupancy and rates off of peak in many markets, many properties find they can do better selling to transient guests and unloading excess inventory at a discount, including through distress channels online.
This has driven United to take advantage of the current contract which allows them to place flight attendants in “downtown-like” locations rather than in prime spots, which has been a sore point for crew.
In London, that’s resulted in flight attendants being sent to a sleepy little town 24 miles southwest of Central London. Flight attendants have also been moved out of downtown hotels in Amsterdam, Rome, and New York City
The union bargained to have this clause eliminated in the contract that flight attendants rejected on July 29. That contract, though, downgraded the requirement for “business class hotels” to merely rooms in “tenantable condition.”
- All that a hotel needs is “regular maintenance and cleaning” such that it is “in a tenantable condition” in order to qualify for crew lodging assignment
- provided that flight attendants get non-smoking rooms with double beds away from elevators, ice and vending machines, housekeepig closets and construction noise.
- There must be an ATM ‘within reasonable walking distance’ of the hotel, and provide free 800-number phone calls.
While flight attendants were exorcised by this change, the union for its part argued that they would participate in hotel selection and could guarantee better hotels rather than worse ones. My sense is that either that message did not get through to their members, or flight attendants did not trust their union on this point.
And since “the AFA says price has become an increasingly important factor in hotel selection, and as long as the hotel that United finds hits the minimum contractual obligations, it has little scope to reject the hotel choice.”
Given the importance of layover hotels to flight attendants, and the role that it played in the narrative for why many crewmembers weren’t comfortable voting for the contract AFA-CWA had negotiated, I imagine the airline’s layover hotel budget will be a key bargaining issue when the parties return to the table after a three month pause.
And since the union is messaging to flight attendants on the challenges of layover hotels now, I surmise this is no coincidence – they want flight attendants to know they hear the concern, and then will tell the airline hotel changes are a key element they need to deliver a contract vote.
Makes sense with how much hotel rates are going for nowadays, even at airport locations. Hotels can lose as much as two room nights for each of these crew rooms, due to their irregular check-in and check-out times which requires room blocks on both ends. If I was a hotelier, I wouldn’t want this business either and would rather discount it via online channels if occupancy rates are low.
Let’s face it, with all the flight delays in the past few years, Hotels near major airports can probably earn greater revenue by leaving rooms empty and charging maximum rates for those last minute stranded travelers.
If they give away these rooms for Pennie’s on the dollar, they won’t be available for the next airline or airport meltdown.
They are horrible guests, I’ve seen it time and time again how they treat the staff and probably pay the least for a room. I don’t blame hotels, I wouldn’t want ot deal with airline crews either.
Give them a Hampton inn by the airport, it’s all they need. They aren’t there to sight see, they are there to get sleep before their next flight. It’s work not a vacation.
I can only imagine how bad it is when you mix in their white entitlement/privilege and boomer attitude with some old ones.
What the hell does this mean? “While flight attendants were exorcised by this change….:”
Learn English or hire an editor!
Ya know, it had been a few days since Gary pushed out a union-bashing post; red meat for his red base. Should rename it View from the Right Wing. We hardly have a pittance of a workers rights movement in this country, lest y’all literally drown the remaining baby in the bathtub. Not to mention, with all these corporate pseudo-currencies, we’re not too far away from ‘company-towns’ again. In case you slept through history class, it’s not a compliment.
@Derek McGillicuddy — I happen to think Gary meant what he wrote… these days we’d need Peter Thiel to perform one anyway. (Supposedly, he knows about the anti-Christ.) Glad we gave that guy all our public and private most-sensitive data. Thank you, JD. (Yes, I said ‘thank you,’ and I’m wearing a suit.)
Well the miserable CEO of United requires his bonus. I travel a lot for my job domestically and internationally. Was at the Grand Hyatt in Korea this year and not a shocker seeing every Airlines employees staying there with the exception of American carriers.
Once you open the door to substandard hotel locations, it’s difficult and next to impossible to reverse.
Pilots should not have better contractual terms for hotel locations. We all sleep.
I’ve seen it. I’ve watched the pilots end up at the Peninsula while the flight attendants end up at an airport hotel on the same layover.
A good friend is the former Director of Sales at a Hilton-affiliated hotel near Ft Lauderdale; they booted out 2 airlines – 80 rooms a night, and the rate was a measly $91. Their average room rate in the winter is $280ish, and summer maybe $215/$220. They are doing fine without the aircrews. ADR & RevPar are now the drivers, not occupancy.
They are at the hotel to rest and sleep to get ready for their next flight. A quiet hotel in an out of the way place sounds perfect. They do not need to be in a hotel located near all the trendy restaurants or night clubs. If that’s the experience they want, they can go to those types of hotels when on vacation.
This sentence makes no sense:
This has driven United to take advantage of the current contract which allows them to place flight attendants in “downtown-like” locations rather than in prime spots, which has been a sore point for crew.
How are downtown like locations NOT prime spots?
Hotel chains “torture” airline crews by welcoming them in soft times and kicking them out during good times. Airline hotel selectors should find a medium type service level that is more resistant to cyclical changes. London, Rome, Amsterdam have few large hotel chains that can accommodate crew members during peaktimes.
To answer Kal’s question, they abuse the word “downtown” – in London, they are put up in Downtown Drayton, or in NYC they are put up in Downtown Jersey City. So not downtown in the city you’re flying to, it can be downtown in a village miles from the city.
and @KittyKat, you do realise that many flight attendants are not white and plenty have worked in hospitality (including hotels) their whole lives so actually treat staff incredibly well? Also they take the job for the perks of travel, not to fly around for barely any money and to be abused by bad passengers all day.
@kitty kat , do I hear a me,oww? Such spite. Must have been rejected from the job. Certainly never knew a FA… Just prejudiced.
@haolenate — Sounds like they got the ‘Fraud Liquor-dale’ treatment. Classic 954.
Kirby couldn’t care less about his employees and if they have to stay at a Motel 6 in the middle of nowhere – with an ATM and access to free 800 number calls – he’s thrilled to give them the middle finger so he gets a bigger bonus. Perhaps that’s a cynical take on things but nothing I’ve seen or read argues against that assertion.
Gasp, soon they will have to stay at the same quality hotel rooms that airlines give to passengers when the airlines interrupt their journeys. Surely a step back for the elite.
@jns — Sounds like you’d be interested in air passenger rights legislation (like, airline pays you when they mess up, see EU261, etc.) and worker protections like unions… oh, wait, you usually aren’t a fan of that. Huh. Odd of you to mock, but not to want better for yourself and others. Curious.
Thanks Gary: “unloading excess inventory at a discount, including through distress channels online” I love hearing about things I hadn’t put together previously. Of course, the ability to use new technology to get something out of that room that would be otherwise empty is going to influence the willingness of a property to commit to X rooms at $Y price.
@KittyKat.
You must be in a bitch of a nasty heat cat lady. Take it down. No need to rank on any persons color of skin. Nobody chooses to be black or white or anything. Grow a brain woman.
Wait, hotels don’t want old, bitchy Karens that treat passengers like crap as their guests? Shocking. Given they aren’t paying themselves and have no skin in the game, one can only imagine what a nightmare these entitled food service, oh, I mean “safety”, workers are as guests.
And downtown hotels? Wtf? You’re on a work trip, stay near where you are working, where there just happens to be loads of hotels. What a ridiculous demand. Aren’t the Dem aligned unions concerned about the carbon footprint of all that shuttling back and forth from downtown to the airport? Won’t somebody think of the endangered purple spotted boll weevil?
The airport hotels have started to emulate the practices of city center hotels with preferring some lower occupancy with very high rates and little to no discounting generally than being at closer to 100% occupancy but lower nightly rates. Want to see skyrocketing airport hotel rates? Check out weekend rate history for BOS airport hotels.