Hotel Committee
- On September 12, our AFA Hotel Committee Chairpersons met to discuss their ongoing work to protect and improve the quality of hotel accommodations and ground transportation providers for Flight Attendants.
- The Committee met with management and representatives from the company’s crew accommodations vendor to discuss current trends and concerns regarding layover hotels and transportation.
- If you encounter problems or have positive feedback about hotels or transportation, please report it through the feedback function in the MyCrewCare app. Your feedback is crucial as it provides the Committee with essential data to support keeping high-quality hotels and push for change when conditions are unacceptable.
On Thursday, September 12, our AFA Local Hotel Committee Chairpersons met to receive an update about current layover hotels and transportation providers and discuss concerns with management. Representing you at the meeting were Dori Marron (ANC), Jarod McNeill (SEA), Virginia Fritz (SFO), and Chris Cardenas (LAX), with MEC Hotel Committee Chairperson James Bozanich also present.
The committee met with Crew Hotels & Administration Manager Nichole Turner, Director of Crew Planning Trisha Bennett, Managing Director of Operations Staffing & Resource Management Brittany Audette, and Managing Director Inflight Ops South (LAX, SAN, & SFO) & Crew Scheduling Allen Thieman from management. Representatives from the Company’s crew accommodations vendor, Accommodations Plus International (API), hosted the meeting.
Topics of Discussion
The committee reviewed several items during the meeting with management and API. Much of the conversation during these Quarterly Business Reviews focuses on financials and the state of the hotel industry. Some items discussed include:
- MyCrewCare App Features
- “News” tab in layover city
- Tweaking of the crew feedback prompts to make them more user friendly so that feedback can be obtained
- API Process Improvements
- Phone systems migrating to the cloud for better workflow
- JetRFP – will be programmed to allow a hotel to bid on a block of business if they are unable to accommodate the full rooms per night request. Will potentially allow for more hotel options for crew accommodation
- Request to improve the timelines when it comes to placing crew hotel information into the bid packets and Crew Access.
- Crew complaints and transportation issues
- Concerns surrounding the utilization of rideshares (Uber/Lyft)
- Unpaid hotel incidentals – reminder for crews to settle their hotel incidentals before checkout
What The Committee Is Working On
- Ad Hoc list review. Our crew hotels have been inspected, endorsed and are contracted properties. Occasionally crews need to be relocated for various reasons, such as known hotel blackout dates, planned property maintenance, fire alarm testing, irregular operations, etc. When our contracted properties cannot take the usage, Crew Hotels and API reference the ad hoc list for alternate accommodations. The Hotel Committee reviews this list periodically to ensure the properties listed still meet our standards.
- Conducting hotel site visits. The Hotel Committee visits hotels that are under consideration by management, and we advocate for management to select hotels that will provide the safest and most comfortable layover experience for Flight Attendants. By the end of 2024, your Hotel Committee will have conducted site visits in 32 cities. For 2025, there are 40 markets that will be reviewed. Contract expirations, crew complaints and cost saving opportunities are the primary drivers that trigger a market review. Depending on the outcome of the market review, a site visit may be scheduled in that city.
- Investigating MyFeedback (CrewCare) reports. Reviewing crewmember feedback and working to hold hotel and transportation providers accountable through management and API. Your direct feedback fixes problems, and it’s the documentation we need to support the decisions to remain where we are or to advocate for a hotel change or ground transpiration change.
We Want to Hear From You!
Don’t let any unacceptable experience with a layover hotel or ground transportation provider go unnoticed! Please report the issue via CrewCare so that it can be addressed. CrewCare is the only official way to report issues, as the Hotel Committee does not monitor social media channels.
Each CrewCare submission is forwarded to your AFA Hotel Committee, Crew Hotels (AS), API and the hotel or ground transportation provider. This ensures quick action can be taken to correct the issue or fix it for the next crewmember. It also allows us to monitor hotel and transportation trends. You can quickly file a CrewCare report using the web app on your IMD home screen or by clicking here.
Do you have any other feedback you would like to share with the committee or any specific items you want us to bring up with management? Please let us know! The Local Hotel Committee is here to represent you and ensure management hears your voice. You can find our contact information on the Hotel Committee page of the AFA Alaska website.
