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.