Today, July 22, a thousand workers prepared to protest Hyatt Hotel locations in 15 cities around the USA and Canada. San Francisco, San Diego, Santa Clara, Sacramento, Long Beach and Monterey-Carmel were the California locations for the non-violent civil disobedience action. The Monterey Hyatt Regency and Carmel Highlands Inn hotels negotiated a tentative agreement with the workers’ union on Tuesday and averted the scheduled demonstration at the Hyatt Regency Monterey.

Other cities scheduled for protests are Chicago, Miami, Honolulu, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis, Indianapolis, Boston, Rosemont, Vancouver and Toronto Canada.

This week’s financial reports from several hotel chains indicate profits are back up and chains like Starwood and Marriott are projecting higher profits for the remainder of 2010 and into 2011. The upper-upscale and luxury segment are showing the best signs of improvement.

Hyatt stock has gained 65% since the initial public offering in fall 2009.

The hotel workers at Hyatt appear to have a strong argument for negotiating contract improvements rather than concessions.

Sources: Hotel Workers Rising (July 15, 2010)

Monterey Herald (July 22, 2010)

Toronto Sun (July 22, 2010)

Chicago Business (July 22)

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News (July 20)

Indianapolis Star (July 22)

San Francisco Bay Guardian (July 22)

AFL-CIO blog – http://blog.aflcio.org/2010/07/22/workers-protest-mistreatment-by-hyatt/

Joie de Vivre Hotels’ Joy of Life Club allows members to double dip for points and miles with Virgin America Elevate through the end of 2010. Earn one mile in Virgin America’s Elevate frequent flyer program and one point in Joy of Life Club for every US$1 spent at member hotels. Starting in 2011 members will need to choose Joy of Life points or Virgin America Elevate points for hotel stays.

Joie de Vivre Hotels consist of 32 properties in California; primarily in the San Francisco to Monterey Bay area.

I actually took my first flight on Virgin America last week. Bring your headphones and you will have dozens of TV stations and hundreds of musical selections for inflight entertainment. Or just sit back in the white plastic seats and groove on the cool blue lighting. The cabin design gives the airline the equivalent of a W Hotel experience.