Gowanus Holiday Inn fined $25K for Sandy price gouging

A Holiday Inn Express hotel in Gowanus, Brooklyn that exploited guests who were displaced during Hurricane Sandy by more than doubling room rates during the storm was fined $25,000 for price-gouging.

Though rates at the hotel at 625 Union Street  range from $155 to $177 per night, the Holiday Inn charged guests over $400 a night immediately following the storm, which left thousands of New Yorkers homeless or stranded, according to New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman.

In addition to the $25,000 fine, the hotel paid over $15,000 in compensation to 38 guests, the New York Daily News reported.

Gowanus has been experiencing a residential boom of late, though many properties on the waterfront were hit hard by the storm, as The Real Deal reported. [NYDN]  – Hiten Samtani