Emily Mariko's Apolitical Wedding Weekend

Thursday Thoughts

Let’s talk about Terranea, the luxury resort hotel at the center of Emily Mariko’s TikTok wedding of the century.

For Mr. & Mrs. Salmon Bowl's outrageously expensive wedding, guests stayed at Terranea, the $800/night resort in Rancho Palos Verdes which was also home to Emily’s pre-wedding festivities, lavish brunches, and her own private villa for the weekend. The wedding itself was a humble backyard reception at her parent’s multi-million dollar rustic estate nearby. The entirety of her hometown, simply known as 'PV,' with its bluffs, peninsula views, hills, elevation, and even the Starbucks is the embodiment of idyllic coastal California luxury.

But all is not well with Terranea, which is also one of my favorite California hotels. I was a veryyyyyyyyyy frequent guest, staying about 4-5 times from 2021-2022 alone before I imposed my own self-ban in March 2022 in support of the housekeepers.

For the last three years, the resort has been embroiled in wrongful termination lawsuits, labor strikes, and boycotts, most of which I didn’t know about until news of a Chateau Marmont boycott came to light in early 2022. Both Terranea and Chateau’s anti-exploitation efforts were lead by UniteHere Local 11, the union which represents 32,000 hotel, restaurant, airport, arena, and convention center workers in Southern California and Arizona.

In late 2019, Terranea’s ownership contributed more than a million dollars to defeat a ballot initiative which would have protected housekeepers in Rancho Palos Verdes. In April 2020, at the outset of the pandemic, Terranea fired most of its employees, including those who had worked at the hotel from its opening, with the promise that they would eventually be re-hired. [Business Wire]

They weren’t.

Terranea employees and hospitality industry workers were key in the creation of California’s Rehiring and Retention Law, a new Covid-era protection signed by Gov. Newsom in 2021 requiring employers to provide written, timely offer letters to furloughed staff. Despite this, Terranea refused to re-hire employees. New complaints against Terranea eventually lead to an investigation by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), and Terranea was eventually required to pay $1.5 million dollars to 53 laid-off employees who it had failed to recall, or recall in the required timely fashion. [Business Wire]

“The Terranea is a pariah. They spent more than a million dollars so that they would not be legally required to respect basic legal rights for their workers, many of whom are women. They used the pandemic to fire their employees, discarding them like they were disposable, even as their owners, like Robert J. Lowe, continue to amass wealth from the hotel,” stated Lorena Lopez, director at UNITE HERE Local 11. “This law would protect the welfare of housekeepers who make the owners of hotels like Terranea so wealthy.” [Business Wire]

Advocating for sexual harassment and safety protections like panic buttons are at the center of union’s new efforts. The efforts would require hotels to provide fair compensation to hotel housekeepers and ensure legal protections for housekeepers from threatening conduct from guests when they work alone in guest rooms.

Similar allegations of labor exploitation and sexual harassment were leveled against the Chateau Marmont, but after over a year of protests, the hotel and union finally reached a landmark agreement in December 2022. Slayyyyy.

Although Hollywood actors are currently demanding strike solidarity from everyone and their mother, their habits of crossing picket lines and being generally dismissive of other local union efforts is well known. In 2022, Jay-Z moved forward with his Oscar party at the Chateau Marmont despite weeks of call-outs and protests from local leaders and exploited employees. A protest outside of the event’s red carpet didn’t stop Jay, Beyonce, or any other celebrity from attending the event.

Solidarity TBD.

Emily’s content is decidedly apolitical, and as a local resident of Rancho Palos Verdes, with really only one convention-size resort to choose from, I don’t fully fault her for hosting events there or depending on the property to house her guests. I just hope that her quest to remain publicly uncontroversial does at least include a minimal amount of consciousness, and for the staff, housekeepers, and cooks, includes a maximum amount of gratuity.

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*Praying this property gets its act together so I can resume my coastal girl activities.*