San Francisco Hotel News & Labor Updates

The Bay Citizen July 22, 2011 http://www.baycitizen.org/labor/story/police-arrest-dozens-protesters-front/ San Francisco police arrested dozens of protesters Thursday evening following a demonstration in front of the Grand Hyatt Union Square. The union representing the hotel’s workers organized the protest, one of eight demonstrations against the chain across the nation. A UNITE HERE Local 2 press release said the events sought to “end the abuses” faced by Hyatt workers, including the replacement of long-term employees with lower-paid temporary workers. “This is all because Hyatt has singled itself out as the worst of the worst,” said Ian Lewis, research director for Local 2. “At this hotel, we’ve been fighting for a contract for two years.” Hundreds of people crowded the sidewalk, marching, holding signs and chanting slogans. Hyatt spokesman Pete Hillan said nearly 100 police officers were required to manage the crowd. Officers used Muni buses to take the demonstrators to jail. As the buses pulled away, protesters continued to chant, calling for a contract. “This is all street theater,” Hillan said. “Over the last 18 months, we’ve seen it all.” Hillan said Hyatt has already offered the workers a contract on par with those at other local hotels. “We’re sitting here with pen poised,” Hillan said. “Our question is why Local 2 holds its membership hostage to a national agenda.” Cynthia Reeb, a Local 2 member and switchboard operator for the nearby Hyatt Regency, said a suitable contract would provide fair wages, health care and job security. “We only want what’s fair,” Reeb said. “We’re asking people to understand that this isn’t just our problem. It’s an American problem.”   [...]

San Jose Mercury News July 20, 2011 http://www.mercurynews.com/san-mateo-county/ci_18509995 Foster City voters will decide in November whether to raise the tax on the city’s two hotels from 8 percent to 9.5 percent. On Monday night, the Foster City council approved placing a measure on the ballot to increase the city’s transient-occupancy tax by 1.5 percent, as city officials look to close a $2.8 million structural deficit. The city’s hotel tax brings in nearly $1.3 million a year in revenue, according to city staff. Boosting the tax rate would increase that amount by $325,000. Even at 9.5 percent, Foster City’s hotel tax rate would be the lowest in San Mateo County. The second-lowest rate, 10 percent, is in effect in such cities as Belmont and South San Francisco. Burlingame, Millbrae and San Mateo are among the cities with rates of 12 percent. Because they were considering a tax increase, four out of five council members needed to vote in favor of the measure for it to pass. Councilman Charlie Bronitsky provided the fourth vote, extracting a concession to lower the proposed rate to 9.5 percent from 10 percent, the level suggested by city staffers. Bronitsky, who has stated his opposition to tax increases in the past, said Tuesday that keeping Foster City’s rate lower than that of surrounding cities was essential to his support. The Chamber of Commerce told city officials the higher rate would not put the city’s hotels, the Crowne Plaza and Courtyard by Marriott, at a competitive disadvantage, he noted. “Having given it some additional thought over time, I don’t think it’s an unreasonable solution,” he said, noting that the city last month raised many fees for basic services more than 1.5 percent. Councilman Rick Wykoff cast the lone vote against the proposal. He said Tuesday the city hasn’t done enough to cut spending to justify increasing taxes. “I don’t think we were as aggressive as we should have been in reducing expenditures,” Wykoff said. The hotel tax hike will need approval from a simple majority of voters to pass. In other business, the council instructed staffers to produce a report on whether to ban the use of plastic-foam takeout containers by Foster City eateries. San Mateo County recently adopted a polystyrene ban for its unincorporated areas. Burlingame is among cities in the region that have enacted such a ban. [...]

Press Release Stanford Court Renaissance San Francisco Hotel July 18, 2011 http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/g/a/2011/07/16/prweb8645314.DTL After much ado, the California Street Cable Car Line is back climbing the famous San Francisco hills. Running directly outside the doors of the Renaissance Stanford Court, a boutique San Francisco Hotel, the California Cable Car Line will now stop at this San Francisco hotel and whisk guests all about the city. To celebrate the completion of the California Street Line, The Stanford Court Hotel is offering the ultimate sip, savor and see experience to California Street Line riders. As part of the sip, savor and see experience, riders who present their Cable Car ticket at Aurea, the on-site restaurant at the Stanford Court Hotel in Nob Hill, can enjoy a complimentary Summer Thyme cocktail, house made potato chips served with two dips-one savory and one sweet-and a San Francisco City Navigator tailored to the California Line. The San Francisco City Navigator reveals popular and potentially unlooked attractions to guests at this San Francisco, CA hotel. Ideal for both the visiting tourist and the native San Franciscan, this celebratory promotion toasts to the future of the iconic San Francisco cable cars. This offer is valid throughout the month of July to celebrate the completion of the California Cable Car line and is restricted to one experience per cable car ticket.* *Tax is additional. Offer cannot be combined with any other promotions. Other restrictions apply. The California Street Cable Cars have been an icon of San Francisco for a long time. While they are historic and offer a memorable experience, the street cable cars are also an ideal way to explore San Francisco. Guests staying at this San Francisco, California, hotel can easily navigate some of the most popular destinations in the city. For more information, please visit www.aureasf.com or call 415-989-3500. About the Stanford Court Renaissance San Francisco Hotel A luxury, AAA Four-Diamond boutique hotel in the heart of San Francisco, The Stanford Court Renaissance San Francisco Hotel provides a sophisticated, contemporary urban retreat. The spacious, recently restored historic hotel features upscale accommodations in downtown San Francisco with 367 guest rooms and 26 luxurious suites on 8 floors, as well as 16 meeting rooms with 13,000 sq. ft. of total meeting space. Located on Nob Hill, near Cable Cars, Union Square and the Financial District, the hotel also features a full-service business center, fitness center, spacious floor plans and all-new rooms. The spacious guest rooms feature luxury bedding, 37″ LCD TVs, marble bathrooms, in-desk safes and wired & wireless high-speed Internet access. For more information, please visit www.stanfordcourt.com. [...]

The Seattle Times July 12, 2011 http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015580659_hoteltax12m.html Downtown Seattle hotel owners want to add a $2-per-night room tax to fund advertising that would promote leisure travel to Seattle, particularly in the offseason. Cuts in government funding — including the closure of the state tourism office — and a rash of “staycations” prompted hotel owners to seek the fee, which was expected to be announced Tuesday morning. More than three-quarters of hotels that would be included already have signed petitions expressing support. The Seattle City Council could vote on the tourism-improvement district this summer. The fee would apply to 53 hotels downtown and in Belltown, South Lake Union, the Chinatown International District, Pioneer Square and part of Capitol Hill. Hotels with fewer than 60 rooms would be exempt. The $2 fee would be on top of the 15.6 percent tax Seattle hotel guests already pay in sales taxes and a room tax. The 7 percent room tax goes toward paying off debt on the Washington State Convention Center and advertising the city as a business-convention site. The new fee would raise about $5 million to $6 million in 2012 to fund promotion, supporters say. “Hotel stays, especially leisure business, is all discretionary, so that takes the biggest hit,” said Howard Cohen, president of the Seattle Hotel Association. While hit by a decline in visitors because of the economic downturn, hotels locally also have seen a drop in Japanese tourists after their nation’s March earthquake and in visitors from the South and Midwest after tornadoes there, said Cohen, who manages two Best Western hotels near the Space Needle and the Sixth Avenue Inn. “This industry is huge for Seattle,” said City Councilmember Tim Burgess. Government funding for tourism promotion has been slashed in recent years. The state’s elimination of the Washington State Tourism Office makes Washington the only state in the country not to spend money promoting tourism. Seattle donated $50,000 this year to Seattle’s Convention and Visitors Bureau for promotion, but that money is expected to be cut from the city budget next year. “I think traditional sources of funding tourism in many cities and many states is changing dramatically,” said Tom Norwalk, president and CEO of the visitors bureau. “We’re really using something that’s been adopted widely around the country.” The new fee would make Seattle’s taxes and fees on hotel rooms among the highest on the West Coast, according to 2009 data from the National Business Travel Association. In San Diego and Portland, for example, hotel guests pay 12.5 percent. In San Francisco, they pay 15.5 percent. A City Council analysis showed for a $150 room, guests would pay 16.6 percent with the new fee. Mayor Mike McGinn said he supports the fee in part because the industry is offering to tax itself. “They see the value in the ability to promote Seattle as a destination,” he said. The new money would market Seattle as an offseason destination. A committee would determine how to spend the money. Tourism is not a problem during summer months, said Norwalk. The new marketing would advertise the city’s food and wine scene, cultural events, holiday shows and activities like that, he said. “We have many, many cultural activities,” said City Councilmember Jean Godden. “We were having Picasso last winter … We don’t have harsh winters. Sometimes we have a little bit of rain, but it’s usually misty and light and not gullywashers by any means.” Seattle’s tourism industry is on the rebound after a low point in 2009. In 2010, 9.3 million overnight visitors booked hotel rooms in King County, versus 8.8 million in 2009. Visitor-generated state and local tax revenue was up 8.4 percent in the county in 2010, as well, according to the Convention and Visitors Bureau. [...]