Wednesday, September 4

New Travel article: Labor Day Travel Hits Record Levels

This year's Labor Day weekend was the busiest-ever for the travel industry, breaking records. You can view the full article here.

New Travel Rankings article: The World's Best-Connected Airports

New data has revealed the world's best-connected airport, and it might surprise you. You can view the full article here.

As travel hits record levels and we enter one of the best seasons for visiting new places, a major hotel strike is causing problems across the United States.

Three of the largest hotel chains in the US, Hyatt, Hilton, and Marriott, are all experiencing a major strike from employees for better pay and fairer work environments, and it could cause problems for travelers. Fall is one of the best seasons in the US for traveling-- fall in the West helps travelers enjoy national parks and natural environments without scorching heat, and it provides spectacular fall foliage and beautiful landscapes in the Appalachian Mountains to the east.

The strike is being conducted by Unite Here, a union for hotel workers, and over 10,200 workers are participating in the protest that spans across 25 hotels in Baltimore, Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, Honolulu, the Hawaiian island of Kauai, and Greenwich, Connecticut. It will end in three days, but they threatened to increase to 65 hotels in 12 different cities, adding 40 hotels across Oakland, California; Providence, Rhode Island; and New Haven, Connecticut.

The workers stated that they were scraping by on measly salaries while hotels were recovering from the pandemic, and now that they have recovered, the employees' salaries have stayed the same. They wanted higher pay and more staff as well, pointing out that the hotels were running on a bare-bones staff that was barely managing to operate the business from day to day.

Unite Here backed up those claims, confirming that hotel chains were making record profits off of the booming travel industry while their employees can hardly support their families with their salaries. In addition, guests are also suffering in this-- while hotels are charging more than ever, many visitors are unable to enjoy the full experience of traveling because hotel staffs do not have the capabilities to provide those services.

Meanwhile, Hyatt expressed its disappointment over the strike, but established that they would cooperate in the negotiations of new employee contracts to prevent future strikes. All three hotel chains have affirmed that the hotels will remain open amid the strike, but certain services may be impacted.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): Many Europeans used to think that tomatoes were poisonous. In fact, that false belief continued all the way until 1820.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Acquiring knowledge is the best defense against our emotions. (Naved Abdali)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Cronyism (noun)- Cronyism is the unfair practice by a powerful person (such as a politician) of giving jobs and other favors to friends without regard for their qualifications.

In a Sentence: City residents are pushing back against cronyism and corruption in their local government.