At the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown, a towering luxury hotel with a rooftop pool and stunning city views, Jason Hernandez said Monday things seemed normal. Housekeepers had cleaned his room. The lobby was tidy if a bit quiet.
It wasn’t until he stepped outside and found metal security barricades outside the hotel doors and dozens of people marching, singing and beating drums that it became clear his vacation plans had collided with a major strike by thousands of hotel workers.
Around 15,000 housekeepers, cooks and receptionists across the region quit their jobs over the weekend, demanding higher wages and better social benefits. The strike, which began on Sunday, coincided with a long July 4 bank holiday weekend that saw thousands of visitors for conventions, weddings and parties.
“You kind of forget inside,” said Mr. Hernandez, 26, who was in town for Anime Expo, a celebration of Japanese animation, and dressed as a League of Legends character in a long brown loincloth with a teal jewel on his forehead. “Then it’s like, ‘Oh my God, all these crazy things are happening.’
Although Mr. Hernandez and friends decided to treat themselves to a hotel room for the expo, which drew tens of thousands of fans to downtown Los Angeles, he said the excitement didn’t bother him.
“I’m pro-the cause, so I don’t mind at all,” said Mr. Hernandez, an Orange County public school teacher south of Los Angeles. “It’s hard to live, in general. Everything is going up.”
According to workers’ union Unite Here Local 11 leaders, that view is widespread — even among hotel guests and vacationers — in a region where workers say wages have not kept pace with rents or the price of gas and groceries.
“The support in the community is overwhelming,” said Kurt Petersen, one of the union’s presidents. “Workers who are paid a living wage will make this city better.”
Crowds of workers in red T-shirts reading “En Huelga” or “On Strike” mingled with groups of conventioneers wearing brightly colored wigs, tiny dresses or magician’s robes outside several large downtown hotels Monday morning.
Oscar Orellana, 30, paused in the shadow of the InterContinental and waved to one of the drivers, who honked his horn as he passed.
Mr. Orellana has been working in the hotel’s housekeeping department for the past six years, making sure linens are provided on every floor. His parents also worked in the hotel industry for a long time; His father demonstrated at a nearby Ritz-Carlton, he said.
“I always saw my parents and they loved their job, which made me want to get into the hotel world and I love my job,” he said. But his three-hour round trip from Long Beach, about 25 miles away, coupled with his heavier workload and inability to afford a sweet treat for his 4-year-old every now and then “made it impossible for us.” “In there we work – that’s why we’re on strike out here,” he said.
To the west, at Santa Monica’s upscale Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows, dozens of workers demonstrated in front of the manicured flowering hedges that lined the property. Some guests said the hotel seemed to be doing well overall, but were frustrated by minor inconveniences — like the lack of clean towels — at such an expensive hotel. Also, they felt trapped in an awkward social position at a time when they just wanted to relax.
“I’m a union activist, so I understand if they’re not being paid a fair wage,” said John Smith, 38, who was visiting with his wife from San Bernardino.
But he added: “We’re trying to enjoy the holidays – I took two days off for that.”
Just outside the property, on a street corner, the bride and groom posed for photos with their arms around each other. Striking workers in bright red could be seen marching a few yards away, waving placards overhead.
Hotel management did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Most hotels have staff contingency plans in place and expect to be able to serve their guests largely uninterrupted, said Pete Hillan, a spokesman for the Hotel Association of Los Angeles. For example, large hotel chains have picked up employees from other properties not affected by the strike or asked managers to intervene, he added.
In the longer term, a high-profile strike over a major holiday weekend could damage Los Angeles’ reputation as a destination for convention planners, business travelers and tourists, he said.
“Why would they come to LA?” he asked. “People vote with their feet.”
The hotel workers’ strike is just the latest high-profile union action amid what California leaders are calling a “hot summer of work” as the struggle to defray sky-high living costs has sparked an unusual level of solidarity among workers in a variety of industries, from casual workers to public Schools to longshoremen to Hollywood screenwriters.
Carters and nurses have gathered to picket lines outside the Hollywood studios, where screenwriters have been on strike since May. This week, leaders of the Writers Guild of America, the union that represents screenwriters, joined the protest of the hotel workers.
Elected officials in Los Angeles — a Democratic stronghold where unions have built significant political power over decades — have also been keen to show their support for the striking workers.
Representative Adam Schiff, Democrat of California, marched with workers at a hotel near Universal Studios Hollywood on Sunday.
“They should be able to earn a decent living and a decent wage,” Mr Schiff told reporters. “I’m proud to be here, standing shoulder to shoulder with my brothers and sisters in labor.”
The union has demanded that hourly wages, which are now $20 and $25 for housekeepers, increase immediately by $5, followed by a $3 increase for each additional year of a three-year contract.
Hotel industry officials said many of the union’s other demands – including an additional fee for guests in unionized hotels that would go into a workers’ housing fund – were attempts to make hotel operators bear the costs of the region’s housing crisis.
Keith Grossman, a spokesman for a group of more than 40 Los Angeles and Orange Counties hotels negotiating with the union, said: “Based on the union’s actions, it is clear that the union is not concerned with the interests of our employees and theirs Staff focused members and instead focused on his political agenda.”
Mr. Grossman said hotels offered to increase wages for housekeepers, who make $25 an hour in Beverly Hills and downtown Los Angeles, to over $31 an hour by January 2027.
As the country enters a hectic summer travel season, union leaders have declined to speculate whether the strike will last for days, weeks or months. But they said workers would protest until collective agreements were finalized.
Kurtis Lee contributed coverage.