Hotel Boulderado workers are moving to unionize this month, saying layoffs, reduced hours and heavier workloads followed the hotel’s sale to AJ Capital Partners, a Nashville-based real estate investment firm.
The firm bought the 117-year-old hotel in March 2025 from Frank Day, a prominent figure in Colorado’s hospitality industry who had owned it for 45 years. At the time, Sam Blundell, then the general manager of the Boulderado’s bars and restaurants, told Boulder Reporting Lab that employees were optimistic and he didn’t expect major changes.
Blundell was later fired, according to Boulderado employees.
He is one of an estimated two dozen employees who have lost their jobs since AJ Capital bought the Boulderado, according to union representatives. Union members say the cuts have left employees overworked and uncertain about their job security.
Other employees said their shifts have been cut from four or five days a week to two or three.
“It’s not just fewer shifts,” said front of house employee Liz Lytle. “Your normal eight-hour shift or six-hour shift is now four hours.”
“In the five years I’ve worked there, no one has ever brought up needing to unionize until recently,” she said. “That just shows how bad things turned, so quickly.”
Maggie Roesink, who works in food and beverage at the Boulderado, said that she has been classified as a part-time employee while still working full-time hours most months.
“I have no consistency,” she said. “They completely cut my hours out of nowhere, cut my benefits without telling me.”
Esperanza Mayorga, who worked in housekeeping at the Boulderado for over a decade, said that before new ownership took over, she was assigned 11 rooms to clean each shift. Now she said she needs to clean 20 to 22 in the same time period.
“It’s too much work and physical strain for the body,” she wrote in Spanish. “I work under a lot of pressure, and no one can take the 15 minute break because there isn’t enough time. I feel so powerless and frustrated by how they’re treating us, as if we are machines.”
Boulderado workers are organizing under the national hospitality union, Unite Here. The union reports it has support from 65% of the Boulderado staff, based on a list of employees the group reports have signed a petition to create a union. Union organizers said they expect more employees to sign on in the coming weeks based on conversations with workers.
On July 1, a group of union members and supporters, including Boulder City Councilmember Nicole Speer, local church leaders and representatives of the Boulder Area Labor Council and local Communication Workers of America Union, walked to the Boulderado together to notify hotel management of their union organizing effort.
The group chanted “Si se puede,” (“Yes we can”) as they left the hotel.
Schulte Hospitality, which AJ Capital contracts with to manage the Boulderado and several other hotels, has not yet recognized the union.
If the company does not voluntarily recognize the union, workers can petition for a vote to form one. They need 30% of workers to sign the petition to trigger the election, and then a majority of workers must vote in support of the union in order for it to be recognized.
Joe Bagby, organizing director for Unite Here, said organizers and Boulderado workers want a fair organizing process free of what they describe as common anti-union tactics by employers.
Those tactics include mandatory anti-union meetings, hiring labor consultants and pitting workers against one another, Bagby said.
AJ Capital did not respond to a request for comment.
AJ Capital’s record elsewhere
The Boulderado is expected to join AJ Capital’s Graduate Hotels by Hilton portfolio after a planned renovation. Hilton bought the Graduate Hotels brand from AJ Capital in 2024, but AJ Capital retains ownership and management of the hotels themselves. The real estate firm reports $5.9 billion in real estate investments.
In other cities, the firm has made decisions that have sometimes put it at odds with local communities.
Cornell University is suing one of its affiliates over the November 2025 closure of The Graduate Hotel Roosevelt Island, on Cornell’s campus.
The lawsuit alleges that the hotel violated its 65-year lease with the university when it closed and defaulted on a $76.5 million loan. The lender has also sued AJ Capital. AJ Capital has counter-sued Cornell, claiming it did not violate the lease.
In Palo Alto, California, AJ Capital faced community pushback in 2018 over a decision to evict tenants of the President Hotel Apartments so that it could be converted back into a hotel for the Graduate collection. In June 2026, that hotel was in the news again for laying off dozens of workers and replacing them with contract workers.
In 2022, labor groups celebrated when the Graduate New Haven voluntarily recognized a new union represented by Unite Here. Union representatives are hopeful the same thing will happen in this case.
Boulderado employees said the cuts from management are affecting guests as well. One waiter said layoffs and shift cuts have left the hotel understaffed, resulting in worse service.
Other employees said the quality of food and amenities has suffered under cost-cutting. Room service that was previously delivered on dishes is now delivered on paper plates with plastic silverware, for example.
“Can’t afford to have someone going around taking the plates out when they put them outside their door,” said John Lehee, who also works front of house. “Sixty-dollar, 16-ounce ribeye steaks — nice cuts of steak — delivered in boxes with plastic cutlery. At that point, just get rid of room service.”
“It’s embarrassing,” Lytle said. “My job, I was so proud of it for such a long time. Now I’m almost embarrassed about working here.”
Federico Garcia provided translation services for this article.
I have worked at the hotel for 12 years. The tension, uncertainty and negative emotions have created a toxic atmosphere.
Losing the Boulderado is a tragedy for the whole community as well as its employees. Last month I took visitors to lunch there and found the dining room closed. No sign, no people. The hotel with that dining room is the top architectural gem in town — some might say the only one. Business has to earn a return, but excessive cost-cutting is just another way to shut down. I’ve known all the owners since 1973, who could make it work. There may be no way to get the attention of these comic-book owners except a boycott. Loubarnes222@gmail.com