Firing housekeepers creates PR mess for Hyatt

Criticism of the company has swept across chat boards and blogs like The Consumerist, Executive Nomad, and the Harvard Business Review since the story broke on Sept. 17. Union activists have launched a “Save the Hyatt 100’’ site on Facebook. And on Tuesday, Governor Deval Patrick thrust the issue into the national spotlight, taking the unusual step of threatening a government boycott of the hotel chain.

“I’m sure our indignation will temper and pass over time,’’ said Paul Michelman, who wrote that Hyatt had “a nice big black eye’’ on the Harvard Business Review’s blog. “But were I personally planning to spend the night in the Boston area sometime soon, I’d do my best to avoid staying at a Hyatt.’’

Experts say that indignation has been fueled by the Hyatt Hotels and Resorts chain’s muted response to the uproar after it fired housekeeping staffs at the Hyatt Regency Boston, Hyatt Harborside, and Hyatt Regency Cambridge and replaced them with workers from an Atlanta staffing company.

In a front-page story in the Globe on Sept. 17, the housekeepers said they had to train their replacements and were told the staffing agency workers were vacation fill-ins. Many of the housekeepers at the center of the controversy - mostly minority women - made about $15 an hour, while the replacement workers make $8 an hour.

Company officials have declined to give phone interviews and have issued only e-mail responses to Globe inquiries, including one in which the chain said the accusation that it “tricked our associates into training their replacements’’ is “absolutely false.’’

Hyatt officials have also said they regretted the firings and had to make “very difficult decisions to adjust costs in response to continuing declines in revenues.’’

Public relations staff at the chain did not respond to an interview request for this story.

In the meantime, outrage over the firings has only grown, with politicians, businesses leaders, and organizations canceling reservations or calling for boycotts.

The National Employment Lawyers Association canceled its contract with the Hyatt Regency Boston.

Similarly, union officials at the Boston Taxi Drivers Association said they faxed a letter to the Hyatt yesterday, saying taxi drivers would boycott the Hyatt and refuse to service the chain’s Boston locations unless the housekeepers were rehired.

The union represents 1,700 taxi drivers, said Arthur Rose, a union representative.

And the Eastern Sociological Society, a group of sociology professionals and scholars, said yesterday that it would withdraw its business unless the chain reconsidered its actions.

Perhaps most surprising was Governor Patrick’s unusual response.

Last week, he wrote to Hyatt chief executive Mark S. Hoplamazian, asking him to rehire the housekeepers. After Hyatt offered them a three-month extension of their health care benefits and assistance looking for a job, Patrick rallied on the workers behalf, announcing he would direct state employees to boycott Hyatt hotels unless the workers were reinstated.

It’s unclear how much Patrick and the union’s efforts as well as the other attention have hurt Hyatt’s bottom line. But William Holstein, author of the book “How to Manage Media,’’ said the company reacted too late to blunt the damage.

“It’s almost always a mistake to stonewall,’’ Holstein said. “It feeds media intensity.’’

David Sexton, a marketing professor at Columbia Business School and author of “Value Above Cost,’’ suggested that Hyatt executives take another look at the savings they thought they would gain by replacing the housekeepers and compare it with what they might lose over time due to negative publicity.

He compared the incident to a recent instance involving criticism of Citibank for ordering a jet for its executives. Even though it would have been more economical for the company to own the jet instead of flying its executives on commercial flights, customers were incensed with the image of excess the jet conveyed.

The bank canceled the order, Sexton said

Hyatt might want to consider reinstating the housekeepers, he added.

“The damage to their brand reputation might cost them much more than the money they save replacing the housekeepers,’’ he said.

Sexton said hotels, as well as banks and airlines, are especially conscious of their image because they spend so much money marketing themselves as comfortable, safe, and stable.

“They are their brand and they talk about their services and how nice they are to put a mint on your pillow,’’ he said.

“Then you see them firing people who make $15 an hour. The point is everything you do these days is visible.’’

Megan Woolhouse can be reached at mwoolhouse@globe.com.