The Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore in Santa Barbara has canceled all bookings and events until 2022, according to several employees interviewed by Noozhawk this week.
The employees say they are now talking to a lawyer with the aim of filing a class action lawsuit against the company. They say they earn severance pay, according to the terms of their employment contracts.
No one from the hotel returned Noozhawk’s calls this week. An operator who answered the phone said she conveyed the messages to management.
Although the COVID-19 pandemic forced the closure of the hotel a year ago, most other hotels have reopened and there are currently no restrictions on the reopening of the hotel industry.
The Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore, at Channel Drive 1260 and owned by hotelier Ty Warner, has a great reputation as a five star beach hotel.
Employees said they were told during a conference in March that the hotel was “closed until further notice” and that bookings and events were frozen until 2022. The news came as a shocking surprise as they were told in November that the hotel would reopen on May 1.
Then, just four days ago, the company announced in a message on social media that the resort manager was leaving The Biltmore after 13 years.
“When the general manager leaves, it does not look too positive,” said one employee.
It was one of the rare pieces of communication from the company.
Noozhawk does not identify the employees because they are afraid of retaliation. They are also looking for other work and do not want to be considered troublemakers.
However, the employees described a gloomy situation. Some of the 450 workers who previously made six figures have started working for Whole Foods or for Uber management. Others lost their homes.
People walk past the shutters Coral Casino Club in the Four Seasons Resort The Biltmore in Santa Barbara. The resort has reportedly canceled all bookings and events until 2022. (Joshua Molina / Noozhawk Photo)
The workers were technically disturbed, meaning they were not fired. They are eligible to receive unemployment benefits, but for many it is a fraction of what they are used to earning.
They said their service agreement contained an “impact” clause, meaning they were entitled to severance pay, based on years of service, if the hotel closes without any fault on the part of the employees. However, they were not fired.
Some employees have been working in the resort for several decades and are in their 50s and 60s.
“The most tragic are people close to retirement who cannot find work at their age,” said one employee.
“A lot of people are suffering without their jobs, and the community would have had more consequences without the partnership with The Biltmore,” said Das Williams, supervisor of the first district in Santa Barbara. “We hope they will reconsider and open it up.”
Mental health also takes a toll.
“This is the biggest hardship because people relate to their work,” Williams said. “That’s who you are as a person. It feels like failure. It’s totally reported to take it away.”
In August, hundreds of workers who lost their jobs marched along Coast Village Road to The Biltmore in protest of the way they were treated. Although many of the employees have collected unemployment checks, some employees are not citizens, so they cannot collect unemployment checks. The employees have no health insurance or benefit from the luxury hotel.
The employee said it was probably time to “close” the door for the chance that the hotel will reopen soon.
The employees said workers felt sad.
“You have this beautiful, probably the most beautiful property in Santa Barbara, and it’s just been thrown away,” said one employee. “It just seems so pointless. Nobody really knows what’s really going on and what’s going to happen.”
Although Assistant CEO Jeff Frapwell said the country does not track taxes on hotel beds by specific property, the province said in March it was about $ 2.8 million lower in estimated short-term occupancy taxes, mainly due to pandemic travel restrictions and the ongoing closure of The Biltmore.
– Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Get in touch with Noozhawk on Facebook.