Hyatt layoffs leave sour taste

Several hundred hotel workers and their supporters turned out for a rally in front of the Hyatt Regency Boston in the US last week for 100 housekeepers who were fired by the hotel chain.

Politicians called for businesses to boycott the Hyatt, while workers banged on drums and chanted “Hyatt, shame on you’’ as they marched in front of the hotel.

Hyatt Hotels laid off the entire housekeeping staffs at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and Hyatt Harborside Hotel on August 31, citing economic conditions.

However, the group immediately replaced them with workers from a staffing firm — workers who had weeks before been trained by the housekeepers who were under the pretence they were training them for holiday cover.

One state senator told The Boston Globe newspaper it was “the height of arrogance and corporate greed”.

Although this was a US incident, this region and its hospitality industry is no stranger to redundancies and difficult operating decisions that impact heavily on people’s lives.

Unfortunately, this is just part of an incredibly tough economic climate and the hotel chains aren’t to blame for the inevitable decisions that have to be made.

However, where the difference between the firms lies is in how they go about implementing these difficult choices.

To get the staff you are about to make redundant to train their replacements on the basis of a lie, the accusation laid at the feet of Hyatt in the US, is more than cynical.

Hard choices have to be made, but at least be honest with your staff and treat them as you would wish to be treated.

Hyatt looks set to pay the price in lost revenue from local companies as they look to Boycott the hotels in Boston.

Who knows if Hyatt will end up losing more than it saved by outsourcing its cleaning staff?

If it does, it will not because it outsourced the cleaning of the hotel — it will be because of the way the hotel reportedly went about it.