New bill seeks to mandate licenses for hotels

A new bill aims to crack down on safety and sanitation at New York City hotels by requiring hotel operators to obtain licenses. But the industry assailed it as a back-door attempt at unionization.

Council member Julie Menin, who proposed the bill, said her goal is to protect hotel guests, employees and neighbors from a few “bad actors” operating unsafe hotels. Under the new law, hotel operators would have to meet certain requirements in order to get a license from the city Department of Consumer and Worker Protection.  

“Licensing is a very important and effective tool to make sure that safety standards across an industry are being met,” Menin said. “Hotels across the United States in most major cities are licensed. New York is one of the few cities where hotels are completely unregulated and unlicensed.”

Menin said the bill was created after complaints by hotel guests and neighbors to the city’s consumer agency doubled over the last five years. 

To get a license, hotels with more than 100 rooms would need to have 24-hour front desk coverage and security. Hotels would also have to meet certain sanitation standards, and employ all of their core staff directly, effectively eliminating the use of subcontractors for jobs like cleaning and security. The law would not apply to lessees such as gyms, spas or restaurants. 

“When you have these fly-by-night subcontractors, they’re just not the kind of safety standards you would want,” Menin said, 

One hotel trade group fired back at the bill, calling it “an attempt to turn unionization into a government-enforced requirement for hotels” in a press release.

“This abrupt and destructive bill would permanently alter how hotels operate and threaten the jobs of thousands of New Yorkers,” said American Hotel & Lodging Association’s Interim President and CEO Kevin Carey.

In late 2021, in what the industry called a move to stop construction of nonunion hotels, the de Blasio administration and City Council passed a law requiring developers to obtain a special permit to put up a hotel. The measure has essentially stopped hotel development in the city.

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