Placing staff on the Hilton Americas-Houston final week ramped up criticism of the Houston First Company, the town’s native authorities company that owns the resort, for a perceived lack of transparency.
“Houston First is, in essence, a public group, and public cash flows by way of them,” mentioned Willy Gonzalez, secretary treasurer and lead negotiator for UNITE HERE Native 23. “Their transactions ought to be for public evaluate — as a result of it’s not their cash, it’s the residents’ cash.”
The union known as for a “full audit” of the municipal company as staff demand a $23 hourly wage, up from the present base fee of $16.50.
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Houston Public Media reviewed public information and obtained a administration settlement between Hilton and Houston First detailing the teams’ payment construction and earnings over the previous decade. The figures present record-high income and earnings on the downtown resort because the hospitality sector recovered from a stoop throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
Administration charges for Hilton
Hilton’s payment construction was revealed in a closely redacted, 116-page administration settlement obtained by Houston Public Media by way of a public information request.
Beneath the settlement, Hilton receives two units of charges — one for managing the resort, which Hilton pockets as a revenue, and the opposite for reimbursement of company companies, like payroll processing and promoting. A Houston First spokesperson informed Houston Public Media that Hilton obtained $2.2 million in administration charges in 2024, up from $1.87 million in 2023. The companies reimbursement payment rose from $1.86 million in 2023 to $2.2 million in 2024.
Amy Gregory, affiliate professor on the College of Central Florida’s Faculty of Hospitality Administration, described the monetary construction as “a quite common state of affairs.”
Hilton’s charges are tied to a market-level metric often called revenue-per-available-room (RevPAR), which is predicated on the pricing charges and occupancy ranges — a determine that is prone to proceed bettering.
“We haven’t fairly gotten to the purpose in each market the place charges and RevPAR have surpassed pre-pandemic ranges,” Gregory mentioned. “However what we’re seeing is that the forecasting for these charges going ahead is considerably greater than what it has been prior to now.”
Hilton Americas-Houston has rebounded from the pandemic stoop. Within the first 5 months of 2025, the resort’s RevPAR stood at $173 in comparison with $53 in 2021, in accordance with a Houston First spokesperson. In 2019, the metric was $123.
Apart from the charges to Hilton, Houston First receives the entire resort’s income — which means solely Houston First’s backside line can be straight affected by greater wages.
Report income for Houston First
In response to annual monetary studies by Houston First, the municipal company noticed record-high revenue from the resort in 2023 of $67 million. Final yr, all-time-high income of $119 million was offset by document bills of $62 million, pushed by capital enchancment initiatives, for a revenue of about $57 million.
Houston First known as 2024 “a standout yr for Houston resorts, with distinctive progress throughout key efficiency indicators.” In November, Hilton Basic Supervisor Jacques D’Rovencourt informed a Houston First committee that 2025 would “be one other document income yr.”
“That implies that Houston and Houston First are doing their job to deliver extra enterprise and financial vitality to the town of Houston,” mentioned Houston Metropolis Council member Abbie Kamin, who chairs the council’s labor committee. “That being mentioned, if we’re seeing these bigger numbers — which is a good factor for the town, after all — we should be ensuring that that success is reaching everybody.”
Within the first seven months of 2025, Houston First noticed web money influx from the resort of $29 million, in accordance with a committee presentation in September.
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Steve Carvell, a professor with Cornell College’s Faculty of Resort Administration, argued the query of wages is separate from the monetary efficiency of the resort — although he emphasised he wasn’t “weighing in on whether or not or not they’re being paid a good wage.”
“Honest wages must be the problem, not how a lot cash the resort makes,” Carvell mentioned, “as a result of these union staff will not be going to earn much less when the resort earns much less.”
Transparency considerations
Earlier than Houston Public Media obtained the payment construction, negotiator Willy Gonzalez of UNITE HERE Native 23 mentioned the union was unable to get a transparent image of the monetary association.
“We all know the Hilton has finished extraordinarily nicely,” Gonzalez mentioned. “Sadly, by them not being clear, we will’t say the precise numbers, which is unfair — unfair to those staff which have constructed the resort, unfair to the residents, as a result of on the finish of the day, Houston First is a public entity.”
Dominic Anthony Walsh/Houston Public Media
Though the union negotiates with the employees’ direct employer, Hilton, Gonzalez argued Houston First “has dug in right here,” stopping progress. Union officers mentioned Hilton hasn’t budged from its counter supply of $17.50 an hour — a $1 increase — adopted by incremental will increase over time, and a Houston First spokesperson confirmed the group stored in touch with Hilton in regards to the negotiations.
In a letter to the town council final week, Gonzalez known as for a “full audit” of the Houston First Company. He mentioned the union confronted a number of roadblocks whereas making an attempt to get “key monetary info” by way of its personal public information request.
Houston First chairman Jay Zeidman responded by saying the company is “topic to important oversight, together with an annual monetary audit and common audits of procurement practices.”
In an announcement, Metropolis Controller Chris Hollins — who oversees municipal audits — mentioned his workplace “has been speaking with UNITE HERE 23 to raised perceive their request for an audit and the way we will be of assist.”
“Hilton staff — and hospitality staff throughout Houston — play an enormous function in holding our metropolis working, and we would like their voices to be heard,” Hollins wrote.
Eighty-one of the 116 pages within the administration settlement obtained by Houston Public Media by way of a public info request had been totally redacted. In response to a ruling from the Texas Lawyer Basic’s Open Information Division — which referees the state’s public info legislation — Hilton demonstrated that releasing sure industrial or monetary info within the doc “would trigger substantial aggressive hurt.”
“Non-public corporations overuse the confidential industrial info exemption,” mentioned Thomas Leatherbury, director of the First Modification Clinic at Southern Methodist College’s Dedman Faculty of Legislation. “Authorities companies mainly allow them to get away with it, and the Lawyer Basic is powerless to go behind it and say, ‘Oh no, I don’t actually assume you’ll be harmed by that disclosure’ — he has to just accept what they are saying.”
One of many few unredacted sections of the administration settlement outlines a collaborative public relations strategy. It requires Hilton and Houston First to “cooperate with each other on all public statements … concerning their contractual relationship … or the efficiency of their respective obligations underneath this Settlement.”
A Houston First spokesperson confirmed the company and Hilton shared statements in regards to the strike with one another “in order that each entities have a transparent understanding of what is being communicated.”
Hilton didn’t reply to questions in regards to the administration settlement.
