Why Boycott?

Hotel workers and the hotel workers' union, UNITE HERE, have called on customers to boycott the Anchorage Hilton owned by Columbia Sussex.

Union workers at the Columbia Sussex-owned Hilton Anchorage called for a boycott of the hotel in May 2009. Columbia Sussex acquired the 600 room hotel in December 2005, while a collective bargaining agreement was already in place for its 160 workers. The inherited contract expired on August 31, 2008. Negotiations with the union stalled, and on April 14, 2009, the Columbia Sussex implemented its last offer resulting in combining job classifications to increase workload and increasing the maximum number of rooms cleaned by housekeepers from 15 to 17 per day. Groups that have honored the boycott include AFGE, NEA, and the Carpenters Union.

Columbia Sussex is one of the largest owners of full service hotels in the U.S., building its 51-hotel empire during the boom years by borrowing heavily to buy hotels. Columbia Sussex has recently lost more than 20 hotels to debt problems, including 14 which were taken over by Blackstone in December 2010 when Columbia Sussex did not refinance the outstanding $1 billion in loans.

For more information on the Columbia Sussex hotel boycotts, please contact bmantle@unitehere.org.

For more information on Columbia Sussex's debt or or the Clearview Hotel Trust transaction, please call 631-834-4681.