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With a newly negotiated contract in hand, Doubletree Hotel employees will return to familiar seats at the bargaining table next week. 

Although they signed a contract with Boykin Lodging at the end of August—after working without a contract for eight months—they’ll be sitting across the table from new owners, Canadian-based Westmont Hospitality Group, when negotiations begin next week. 

Westmont Hospitality, which owns and manages more than 400 hotels in the United States, Canada and Europe, took over ownership of the Berkeley waterfront hotel on Sept. 20. 

“Next week, we start negotiating for the next three- to five-year contract,” said Wei-Ling Huber, Hotel Employees Restaurant Employees Local 2850 president. The contract signed with Boykin will remain in force until a new contract is signed, according to Huber. 

In August, the union completed successful bargaining with Boykin, winning a salary hike of 40 cents per hour across the board and getting the employer to agree to absorbing increased health-care costs, Huber said. 

The contract is retroactive to January 2005. 

In May, Boykin announced it would be acquired by Braveheart Holdings LP, an affiliate of 30-year-old Westmont Hospitality Group and Cadim, Inc. for $416 million, according to a May 22 article on Hotel Online.  

Westmont Hospitality has recently expanded into Japan via a joint venture with an investment firm owned by financier George Soros, according to Yahoo Finance.