When the posh Hotel Bel-Air was re-opened earlier this month by luxury hotel chain the Dorchester Collection, the reviews from the neigbors and press outlets who follow such things were warm and admiring.
But from the reported 260-plus union workers who were laid off as a result of the renovation … not so much.
As covered in the Los Angeles Times, guests arriving for the grand opening on October 14 were met by an estimated 300 protestors, their ranks bolstered by a group of OccupyLA demonstrators and representatives of hospitality union Unite Here Local 11.
Also read: Hotel Bel-Air to Close for Major Renovation
The latter group has among its ranks a number of those disadvantaged by the renovation. The hotel re-opened employing only about a dozen of its former union workers from a staff of 275.
A report in USA Today quoted union spokeswoman Leigh Shelton as saying that the Bel-Air has been a union hotel "for decades" and adding that "people with 20 years of service are being thrown away like old furniture."
Hotel spokeswoman Alisha Mahon said that current employees "now have the right to vote to unionize again … it's up to the employees if they want to be a union." (Parent company Dorchester Collection is owned by Brunei Investment Company under the aegis of the oil-rich Brunei government.)
Also read: Why I Will Miss the Hotel Bel-Air
Mahon further said that even on the day of re-opening, occupancy was full and "there has been no impact" from the protests. In a promotion tied to the renovation, rooms were going for a mere $565 per night. The hotel refurbished all 91 of its original rooms and added 15 more swanky retreats.
Also read: Hotel Bel-Air, 1946-2009
The ultra-private property will presumably still host the celebrities, movie stars and dignitaries who have stayed here.
The kitchen will now be run by celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.
TheWrap placed a query with the OccupyLA group that was not immediately answered. A hotel spokesperson stated that the hotel's new food and beverage operation under Puck, as well as a brand new spa, created the need for “different skill sets”: “When the hotel closed, all employees were offered 2.5 weeks of severance per year of employment, which remains the highest amount that any hotel in California's history has ever offered. The overwhelming majority (approximately 85%) accepted the severance.”