Local 26 has negotiated language into our hotel contracts to ensure renovations are done the right way, with a skilled union workforce. The Park Plaza is and will always be “one of those classic Boston hotels with an incredible heritage.” Read more
This week is Hotel Week Boston, a week where some of our city’s best hotels offer discounts to encourage stay-cations and get-aways during school vacation.
But not all participating hotels are equal. As always, use the Union Hotel Guide website or download the app when booking a hotel stay.
If you’re going to the Boston Hotel Week website to book, note that the following Union hotels are participating:
Ames Hotel
The Colonnade Hotel
Loews Boston Hotel
Ritz-Carlton, Boston Common
W Hotel Boston
Westin Copley Place
Enjoy your hotel stay in a Union hotel!
Housekeepers at the Hotel Commonwealth in Boston’s Kenmore Square have reached an agreement with hotel management that will ease 
the workload of housekeepers who attend to rooms with kitchenettes. Housekeepers at the hotel—which overlooks Fenway Park—are members of Boston’s UNITE HERE Local 26.
The union has negotiated contracts with 28 Boston-area hotels. The contracts provide protections for housekeepers to ensure that workload doesn’t lead to pain and injuries.
According to a 2006 survey of housekeepers by UNITE HERE, 91% of housekeepers surveyed said they experience workplace pain. Additional amenities are heralded by hotel guests, but can pose potential threats to housekeepers who race to do more in less time. The hotel, managed by Sage Hospitality, installed rooms with kitchenettes to better serve hotel guests who wish to cook.
Union leaders requested bargaining and the hotel came to an agreement that will allow housekeepers to be assigned less rooms if they need to clean a kitchenette room that has had a guest check-out. Housekeepers will clean the same number of rooms during days where a guest stays over. Housekeepers report that this will give them the time needed to thoroughly clean and sanitize the kitchens.
Kalila Barnett of Alternatives for Community and Environment noted that the Local 26 hospitality union starts workers at $18 per hour with benefits…“The hotel chosen by Urbanica is non-union, and will pay $5 less than union standard,” Barnett said. “I’m wondering, why is Roxbury being treated differently?”
Boston Mayor Marty Walsh and long-time activist Mel King remark on the establishment of the city-wide diversity in the hospitality industry task force formed by Local 26 union contracts with major Boston hotels. The remarks were made at the announcement of the task force this summer.
“This is a model that you have developed here that says really clearly that change is possible,” said Mel King.