The Sundance Film Festival is moving its Boulder headquarters out of the Hotel Boulderado as workers at the historic downtown hotel wage a monthslong campaign to unionize and call on festival organizers to support their efforts.
The Sundance Institute says the move was driven by a need for more space and that discussions with the new venue began before the labor dispute.
The move was announced Oct. 15, the day tickets went on sale for Sundance’s first Boulder festival. The two-sentence announcement did not mention the Hotel Boulderado.
The switch comes as Boulderado workers campaign to get their union recognized. In recent months, they have picketed outside the hotel and urged the festival’s organizers to use their influence to encourage hotel management to resolve the labor dispute. Unite Here, a national hospitality union, is helping to organize the Boulderado employees.
“Will Sundance cross our picket line?” Ray Guadalupe, a hotel worker, said in an Oct. 15 press release by Unite Here.
Read: Hotel Boulderado workers launch union drive, citing layoffs and cuts under new ownership
In July 2026, about a month into the labor dispute, Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Film Festival, confirmed the Boulderado would serve as the festival’s headquarters, noting its proximity to the city’s downtown. In an Oct. 15 press release, the Sundance Institute announced its new headquarters would be The Rink, located at 1722 14th St., also near downtown.
Katie Shapiro, a representative for the Sundance Institute, told Boulder Reporting Lab that The Rink is larger, allowing all of its departments to work from one place, rather than “spreading our operational footprint across multiple venues.” She said conversations with The Rink began before the union dispute, initially as part of a search for additional small offices to supplement space at the Boulderado.
Shapiro said the institute has no plans to house staff at the Boulderado.
It remains unclear what the move will mean financially for the hotel.
“The Sundance Institute strongly supports unions and believes that they strengthen the institutions they work for,” Shapiro said. “While we began our conversations with The Rink’s leadership team before the dispute took place, we are aware of the ongoing efforts by the Boulderado staff and we hope management and workers can come to an agreement.”
Union representatives responded to the change by doubling down on their request for the festival to use its influence to resolve the labor dispute.
“The Sundance Film Festival has a responsibility to help workers in its new hometown, and that includes taking on Hotel Boulderado’s private equity owner AJ Capital Partners,” Unite Here Local 23 said in a statement.
Union efforts
In March 2025, the iconic 117-year-old Hotel Boulderado was purchased by Nashville-based AJ Capital, after over 40 years under the same ownership. By July 1, 2026, hotel workers were trying to unionize, citing layoffs, reduced hours and heavier workloads.
Union representatives estimated about two dozen people lost their jobs earlier this year, while others had seen their shifts, hours and benefits cut. One longtime housekeeper said management had doubled the number of rooms she was required to clean.
“In the five years I’ve worked there, no one has ever brought up needing to unionize until recently,” Liz Lytle, a front-of-house employee, told Boulder Reporting Lab in July. “That just shows how bad things turned, so quickly.”
Schulte Hospitality, which AJ Capital contracts with to manage the Boulderado and several other hotels, has not recognized the union. Unite Here reports that the hotel has brought in consultants to talk to staff and convince them not to unionize.
AJ Capital and Schulte Hospitality did not respond to requests for comment for this story.
AJ Capital, which describes itself as a real estate investment manager, manages the Graduate Hotels by Hilton portfolio, which focuses on hotels in college towns, as well as several others. The Boulderado is expected to join the Graduate collection after it undergoes renovations.
AJ Capital has faced lawsuits and community pushback in New York, California and Florida over hotel closures, tenant evictions, layoffs and an alleged effort to push a bakery out of its space.
In March 2025, the Sundance Institute announced Boulder would host the festival, which is expected to bring tens of thousands of visitors to the area each winter.
In 2024, the festival brought $132 million in economic activity to Utah, according to the Boulder Chamber. The city and state invested in bringing the festival to Boulder, expecting a boost in sales tax revenue. The 10-day festival kicks off Jan. 21.
I wish the workers success in their initiative to unionize, and I am sorry to see a Boulder landmark under the control of an out-of-state corporate entity. Boulder is losing its soul piece by piece.
Having been a steady customer, personal and business since 1973 I was stunned when bringing out of towners to lunch at the Boulderado to find the main dining room closed. Watching “investors” gut what they have bought is so common, but blind-sided to find it at a Boulder landmark.
I have patronized the Boulderado Hotel since the 70’s and I have a friend who works there. Since the selling of the hotel to an out of state entity which is part of the Hilton conglomerate, there has been layoffs and more workload pushed on the remaining employees. The employees in the hospitality industry have engaged with Unite Here local 23 to unionize and have a say in their workplace but A J Capital and Schulte Hospitality that are the subcontractors for the Hilton conglomerate don’t want the employees to unionize. Besides that aspect of union busting, now we have the Sundance Film Festival Institute decision to break their agreement with the Hotel Boulderado and take their business elsewhere with their excuse that the hotel didn’t provide enough space for their organization. This tactic is just a rouse for them not wanting to get involved with the unionizing dispute and Robert Reddford would turn over in his grave if he could see how corporate interests and local government institutions don’t care about the working class and only about how much money that they can make off the workers and others that are involved with the film festival.