Hyatt Fires All Housekeepers in Boston, But Not Before They Train Replacements

In a perfect world, your company's version of events would be heard and believed more than whatever someone else has to say. In Hyatt's world (of hurt), it doesn't matter one bit what the company says. The damage is already done. How to recover from a PR debacle?

Here's what happened. Hyatt has three "properties" in Boston that were taking an economic hit from the recession. Management of the hotels decided to replace the entire housekeeping force in the hotels and hire outsourced replacements, which of course, are cheaper in the short run.

Side note: I hate the word properties. It makes it seem like such a monopoly game, with little red hotels on Park Ave. and Indiana. These are workplaces, employers and destinations. Not properties.

Before the housekeepers were let go, the replacements came in and worked side-by-side with these folks, who were also then forced to essentially train the people who were taking their jobs. But here's the kicker: At first, the workers were told that the newbies were "vacation replacements." What a sick joke.

Of course, the story has reached national proportions, caused protests, and given Hyatt a huge black eye in the public relations department. The bottom line for me is this: Paying people a dollar an hour less to clean rooms is not the kind of cost savings that will allow you to keep a hotel's doors open. It's a drop in the bucket. 

Hyatt has come back with its own version of events, which may or may not be true. But guess what? It doesn't matter. The damage has been done and Hyatt needs to go into hypermode to reverse it.

What could Hyatt have done to prevent this PR nightmare? What can they do now to recover?

To prevent the situation, Hyatt should have:

1. Negotiated a temporary wage decrease or wage freeze with the unionized hotel workers
2. Imposed a temporary surcharge on guests for the shortfall in the budget
3. Communicated with all parties involved and brought them in from day one to help come up with solutions to the problem

To solve the situation and avoid a long-term branding in the most Democratic state in the union, Hyatt should:

1. Immediately reverse course and rehire all the workers and provide bonuses, thanking them for coming back
2. Make a corporate donation to the City of Boston's emergency homeless shelter to extend its message of true hospitality to the unfortunate, and
3. Apologize for the extreme lack of judgment shown and for the unnecessary displacement of the workers

Any short-term costs will be made up ten-fold in potential business retained. As of now, the public is in no mood to forget this callous incident and Hyatt will be the hotel kingdom's poster child of bad behavior.

Will this incident make you think twice before booking a room at a Hyatt?