SAN FRANCISCO
Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) lost seven Kimpton properties in San Francisco, reportedly due to union issues, as explained by IHG CEO Richard Solomons during a Q1 earnings phone call on Friday, July 31.
IHG only recently acquired Kimpton in the first quarter of 2015 and the seven San Francisco properties accounted for more than 10% of the Kimpton portfolio and represented an annual fee revenue of $6 million.
During the earnings call IHG CFO Paul Edgecliffe-Johnson stated “[The seven exits are] not representative of the broader business.” It was later stated by Solomons that this year could be one of the best ever for Kimpton.
Properties that left the Kimpton chain include The Argonaut, Hotel Palomar, Hotel Monaco, Harbor Court Hotel, The Prescott Hotel, Hotel Triton and The Tuscan Inn. The remaining two Kimpton properties in San Francisco include The Buchanan and Sir Francis Drake hotels.
It is believed that the union dispute stems from three properties owned by LaSalle Hotel Properties and four by Pebblebrook Hotel Trust, which are being accused of “evading hotel employee organizing rights” as stated in a press release by Unite Here Local 2, the city's hotel and restaurant workers' union.
