On July 1, 2024, the Accor-branded Sofitel Philippines Plaza Hotel will close for renovation. Although it will eventually reopen, the owning companies behind Philippine Plaza Holdings, Inc (PPHI) – which is owned by a joint venture between Kajima Group’s subsidiary Kajima Development and Allied Properties in Hong Kong – have decided to declare a complete closure with mass layoffs. In complete disregard for international human rights standards and its obligations under the OECD Guidelines, Accor has simply gone along with this.
When the Philippine Plaza Chapter (PPC) and the Philippine Plaza Supervisory Chapter (PPSC) of NUWHRAIN requested negotiations on the terms and conditions of the renovation, Accor and Kajima Allied’s Philippine Plaza Holdings, Inc (PPHI) simply refused. They would not even provide an explanation of why the hotel will close when much of the renovation has already been completed. Even while Accor and hotel management told the unions – then openly declared in the media – “the hotel is unsafe!” … events, parties, conferences and bookings continued.
Kajima Development and Allied Properties maintain a lease on the beachfront and land through Philippine Plaza Holdings, Inc (PPHI) that will expire in another 17 years. Instead of seeking to terminate the lease because of the “closure” of the luxury hotel resort, they are seeking an extension to a 25-year lease. So Accor and the owners of the iconic Sofitel Philippines Plaza Hotel have plans. The workers who dedicated dozens of years – and for some decades – of their working lives to make Sofitel Philippines Plaza Hotel so successful have no part in this plan. They will be thrown out like trash on July 1, 2024.
This epitomizes how global hotel chains like Accor fail to recognize the value in the work of hotel workers, and their valuable contribution. Workers are just an expense. And the unions that represent these workers are just an obstacle to dismantled.
This is actually the purpose of this declared “renovation”. Get rid of hundreds of workers and all of their pensions and benefits. Dismantle the unions and the collective bargaining agreements that recognize workers’ contribution to the business through decent wages and benefits, and reset the business. So when the hotel reopens it will be free to hire an entirely new workforce with zero years of service, and will not need to negotiate with any union that is intent on protecting workers’ rights and bargaining fair wages. The zero reset in this renovation will mean zero rights for the workers that walk through the back door in the renovated, reopened hotel resort.
Opened on September 26, 1976, the hotel went through three major renovations (1994, 1995, 2007) and every few years there were a series of extensive resonations and upgrading. Accor took over the hotel operations under its luxury Sofitel brand in 2007 with a major renovation. 17 years later the hotel will go through another renovation because – the owning company and Accor claim – it is “unsafe”. Accor has confused approach to safety, with its “Allsafe” label coinciding with rights abuses and unsafe working conditions in countries such as Indonesia.
Workers now see the dark side the catchphrase of Accor’s luxury Sofitel Philippine Plaza resort: “WHERE LIFE LIVES!” And they are left to ask, “For who?” It lives for guests, for profits, for business. But workers will not be able to live their lives. They face hardship, anxiety and bitterness.
Meanwhile Accor is expanding its business in the Philippines and opening several new hotel properties including ibis Styles Subic, Mercure Subic and the luxurious South Palms Resort Panglao Bohol – MGallery. This also includes the largest Pullman branded hotel property in the world to be opened in Cebu City in 2028. When announcing this new development, Accor declared that it: “… demonstrates Accor’s confidence in and commitment to the promising potential of the Philippines.”
What Accor refuses to recognize is the promising potential of workers already working in their hotels in the Philippines, and the hopeless they have created for hundreds of workers and their families. July 1, 2024, will be a dark day for these families and will cast a shadow on Accor’s upcoming hotel properties in the Philippines for decades to come.
