Hotel Committee Meeting Recap – November 2026

On Monday, November 2, our AFA Hotel Committee Chairpersons met in-person to receive an update on current layover hotels and transportation providers and discuss concerns with management. Representing you at the meeting were Dori Marron (ANC), Brian Sherill (pmAS LAX), Le’a Tupola (pmHA LAX/SEA), Kelly Hepworth (PDX), Kanani Vallot (SAN), Hilary Streem (SFO), with MEC Hotel Committee Chairperson James Bozanich facilitating the meeting.

The Committee met with Director of Crew Planning Trisha Bennett, Manager of Crew Hotel and Administration Diane Szubert, Senior Crew Hotels Support Specialist Nichole Turner, and Crew Hotel Support Specialist LaFay Williams.

Our next monthly meeting with management is scheduled for Monday, December 21.

Topics of Discussion

• City-Specific Issues (pmAS):
  • LIH: Our incumbent is still out of service, and therefore we need to extend our relocation through January 2027. We will be utilizing a new different (new) hotel rather than what we have been temporarily using due to hotel availability. We will continue to monitor our incumbent’s progress.  
  • HNL: Noise remains an issue at our new property, primarily affecting the crew who are day-sleeping before their flight. The culprit is the noise permeating from an evening luau. In December, the crew operating the redeye departure will move to our secondary HNL hotel as a noise mitigation measure. In the meantime, the hotel has agreed to position rooms away from this event for the month of November. If you notice this is not happening, please report via CrewCare.  
  • HNL Transportation: We have received a few CrewCare reports in which crews reported that a driver for our ground transportation provider had asked for $20 in cash for crew guests. This is neither a new policy nor a requirement. If this happens to you, please notify your Local Hotel Committee Chairperson.  
  • JFK: We discussed alternatives to our short stay property. Surprisingly, for being such a prominent US airport, there are limited contractually compliant short-stay hotels within the vicinity of JFK.  The  Committee offered some suggestions on solutions.  
• Hotel Inventory (pmAS): With the added flying announced from ANC, we have asked Crew Hotels to verify that all required rooms will be accounted for. ANC also experiences a compressed market during the high season, and we want to ensure our room blocks are sufficient to mitigate any last-minute relocations.  
• Ad Hoc List (pmAS): We continue to discuss the ad hoc list. We recently updated the list following our site visit to ORD in September. During recent relocations, we noticed that hotels we had requested be scrubbed from the list were being used. Although final hotel decisions from site visits can take time, as best-and-final negotiations are conducted, the ad hoc list should be updated once the committee’s report is submitted. We communicated this expectation going forward.  
• Financial Transparency (pmHA): The pmHA side of the hotel operation had been withholding financial information from the Hotel Committee regarding hotel rates and financial summaries. This is despite a single Crew Hotel department and a single hotel vendor (API). The pmAS Hotel Committee Chairpersons have always had this information available. For transparency, it was requested that this information be freely shared with all committee members. The pmHA Hotel Committee Chairpersons are now receiving this information.  

What The Committee Is Working On

1. Conducting Hotel Site Visits: Our Hotel Committee conducts site visits on hotels under consideration by management to ensure that the selected options provide the safest and most comfortable layover experience for Flight Attendants. Market reviews are triggered by factors such as contract expirations, crew complaints, and cost-saving opportunities.  

• Pre-Merger Alaska: The 2027 site schedule will be published soon, and assignments will be made. 2027 will be another busy year for the Hotel Committee. The scheduled site visits through the rest of 2026 are:
  • Nov: IND, RDU (Long), SEA (Training Hotels)
  • Dec: PVR, SEA (Mid), TPA (Long)
  • TBD: ADQ
• Pre-Merger Hawaiian: The scheduled site visits through January 2027 are:
  • Dec: ATH
  • Jan: CDG
  • TBD: PPT, LIH

2. Hotel Gainshare Update (pmAS): We understand it’s frustrating to hear that there are still no new developments regarding the Hotel Gainshare program. Negotiations are still on hold as management maintains concerns about possible federal tax consequences. While AFA International has provided a thorough legal counterargument to the company’s Vice President of Tax and their outside counsel, the company’s attorney is still recommending against moving forward due to ongoing tax law issues. The process now depends on securing an independent review from a tax attorney. Unfortunately, this situation is likely to persist for the foreseeable future, and we don’t anticipate having further updates any time soon. We appreciate your continued interest and will share information if anything changes.

We Want to Hear From You!

Your feedback is essential to our work. Please use CrewCare to report your experience with layover hotels or ground transportation, whether your feedback is positive or highlights problems or areas that need improvement. CrewCare is the official channel for addressing your concerns and ensures they are promptly reviewed by the Committee. We are unable to monitor social media, so submitting through CrewCare is the best way to make your voice heard.

Each CrewCare feedback submission is forwarded to our AFA Hotel Committee, Crew Hotels (Alaska/Hawaiian management), API, and the hotel or ground transportation provider. This ensures that quick action can be taken to correct the issue for the next crew member. 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 additional feedback you would like to share with the Committee, or any specific items you would like us to bring up with management? Please let us know! Your 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 + Hawaiian website.