Hotel workers ratify contract with four downtown Vancouver hotels

Unite Here! Local 40 has announced that workers at the Vancouver Hyatt, Four Seasons, Westin Bayshore, and Renaissance hotels have ratified a new four-year deal.
It includes a $1.84 per hour raise over the life of the contract, as well as a 50-percent hike in pension contributions, housekeeping workload relief, improved access to medical benefits , and medical-benefit increases, according to a statement released by the union.
"Now more of our coworkers will keep the extended health care and dental benefits during slower parts of the year," Naden Abenes, a room attendant at the Hyatt and member of the union bargaining committee, said in the statement. "I'm also happy we won housekeeping workload relief which means housekeepers will no longer have to skip their breaks to finish rooms, can rely less on painkilllers, and actually get to enjoy the time they spend with their families after work—instead of losing that time due to pain."

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Columbia Sussex Corp.'s Westin Resort in the Cayman Islands faces foreclosure

Columbia Sussex Corp.'s Westin Casuarina Resort & Spa in the Cayman Islands may face a foreclosure after demand slumped and the borrower said it can't cover debt payment shortfalls, according to Realpoint LLC.

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Las Vegas Westin Casuarina faces hardships amid economic downturn

The owner of the Westin Casuarina Hotel, Casino & Spa in Las Vegas isn’t commenting on how the property is performing during the recession, but real estate watchers say the 826-room property may face foreclosure.
Fitch Ratings today downgraded a class of Wachovia Bank Commercial Mortgage Trust securities issued in 2005, citing several problem loans around the country.
One of the loans that was pooled and sold to investors in the Wachovia securities is secured by the Westin Casuarina on Flamingo Road just east of the Las Vegas Strip.

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More Westin rooms to shut as receivership fight continues

The Westin Hotel is "making the best of a bad situation" as a dispute between the owners and receivers of the hotel's management company rumbles on during one of its busiest booking weeks of the year.


The Westin is doing a fraction of its normal trade and has had to turn away several NZ Fashion Week guests after half of the hotel was made off limits earlier this month. Owners are seeking to cancel the leases of a further 19 rooms at the five star hotel in the next two weeks.

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Westin Times Square Hotel baker awarded $3M by federal jury because hotel spied on him

A hotel baker who claimed he was tormented with vile taunts and even physically abused at work was awarded $3 million by a federal jury Wednesday.

But Moises Mendez's tale of being mocked for stomach scars and his ethnicity at the Westin Times Square Hotel isn't what swayed jurors.

Instead, they decided he deserved a whole lot of dough because after he complained, the hotel installed a hidden camera over his work station. The jury awarded Mendez $1 million for pain and suffering and ordered Westin and parent company Starwood Hotels to pay him $2 million in punitive damages. "It is like a big building has been lifted from my shoulders," Mendez said. "They spied on me and wanted to find ways to get rid of me. It shows what I went through just trying to do my job."

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Westin Has Sold 30,000 'Heavenly Beds' and We Want a Shower Head