Out of Work and In the Dark, Biltmore Staff Plan to Protest
More Than 450 Employees, Many With Decades of Service, Have Been In Limbo for Five Months
Furloughed staff of the luxury Four Seasons Biltmore Resort in Montecito, frustrated with a lack of communication from both the company’s corporate office and local owner Ty Warner as the hotel’s five-month COVID closure drags on, are planning a protest this Thursday that will begin at the Andrée Clark Bird Refuge, file past the hotel, and circle around Warner’s nearby estate.
Unlike other hotels in the region that have reopened various levels of service since the start of the pandemic ― including the San Ysidro Ranch, which Warner also owns ― the Biltmore has remained completely dark. Rumors are swirling of a possible sale or top-to-bottom renovation, and the 450 staff, who cashed out their vacation time long ago and were kicked off the company’s health insurance in June, continue to wonder and agonize when the closure will end and if they’ll still have jobs when it does.
“We are at a standstill,” said one of four employees interviewed by the Independent, who asked that their identities be kept private for fear of professional retaliation. “We just want to know what’s going on so we can make decisions. Are we being laid off? Do we need to start looking for other jobs? We can’t be kept on furlough forever.” If layoffs are coming, staff also worry that their severance packages may be withheld, which is what happened at the Four Seasons in Boston until the city council there got involved.
