Two major downtown hotels will start paying wages well above the median for San Antonio’s hospitality workers. Could that push other hotels in the market to follow suit?
In December, staff at the Grand Hyatt San Antonio River Walk signed a new union contract. Non-tipped workers, like housekeepers and cooks will make at least $20 an hour starting in May, according to Unite Here Local 23, which represent 1,000 workers.
The union said hotel workers there would be the highest paid for their position in San Antonio. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor and Statistics, half of all housekeepers in the San Antonio-New Braunfels area make less than $14.01 an hour and 90% of housekeepers make less than $17.64 an hour.
Rachel Melendes, a Unite Here Local 23 political director, said tipped employees like servers and bartenders also got wage increases. Banquet servers also secured greater percentages of service charges that accompany the events they work at.
Unite Here workers negotiated wage increases in Houston last year after a 40-day strike. Union leaders hope the wage increase ripples outward in San Antonio.
“The hospitality industry is one of the most important industries in San Antonio. All hospitality workers in this city deserve fair wages, dignity, and respect on the job,” said Willy Gonzalez, the local’s secretary treasurer.
The Grand Hyatt could not be reached for comment. The hotel was built in 2005 and financed by the City of San Antonio through a $208 million bond. The city had to take on the hotel’s debt payments during the COVID-19 pandemic, but city council agreed on a new deal with the hotel in 2022 that paid back money owed to the city.
That deal relies on a nonprofit and public agency to facilitate a new bond and hotel ownership, lets Hyatt run the hotel for 40 years and returns ownership to the city in the 2060s.
Other downtown hotels are also planning to pay higher wages — though for different reasons.
The Monarch Hotel is scheduled to open March 3 and has hired about 75% of its staff, according to Rick Slutter, managing director of hotels for owner Zachry Hospitality. The hotel recently announced its executive chef for two of its restaurants in the building.
Slutter said Zachry Hospitality, which also owns the Hilton Palacio del Rio, looked closely at wages in the area. The range is broad across different kinds of hotels, Slutter said, but he sees housekeepers making between $13 and $18 an hour.
The Monarch is a luxury hotel and is hiring like it, Slutter said. Wages for hourly workers are between $16 and $29, depending on experience. The hotel includes benefits, free parking or bus passes and paid time off from day one along with its higher wages to try to entice top applicants.
“We’ve been really surprised by the amount of energy, the amount of talent,” Slutter said. “We definitely had a lot of experienced hospitality professionals looking for change and looking for opportunity.”
Employees are looking for work-life balance, Slutter added, and the Monarch is trying to provide that by offering scheduling flexibility and discounts for staff. He hopes that helps recruit staff and retain them later on.
Steve Nivin, a St. Mary’s University economics professor said that when wages for one hotel go up, it can cause others in the area to follow as they compete for workers.
“It could cause some other hotels, at least in that downtown area, to raise their wages,” he said.
“What workers are thinking is, ‘Hey, my colleagues are getting paid $20 an hour at the Grand Hyatt. I’m making $15.’”
Nivin cautioned that any changes are not a definitive prediction. Other factors could affect wages at hotels. Without knowing more about hotels’ financial situations, it’s difficult to predict if wage increases will spread across the city, stay confined to downtown or spread to any other hotels in the first place.
“I don’t have any data to support this, it’s just theoretical,” Nivin said. “I don’t know if it will actually play out that way.”
Hotel workers represented by Unite Here Local 23 say they are looking forward to the bump in pay, which kicks in later this year.
“With the wage increases, I’ll be able to actually save and not have to worry so much every month about all of my expenses,” said Mary Saucedo, a housekeeper who has worked at the Grand Hyatt for 16 years.
