The debate over New York City Council Int. No. 991 continues, with New York City Councilwoman Julie Menin (D-District 5) introducing revisions to the bill she proposed in mid-July. As noted last week, the bill would “require hotels to obtain a license in order to operate their business in the city.”
The updated language makes a distinction between small and large hotels within the city. While the previous version of the bill called for large properties to “maintain continuous front-desk coverage and have at least one security guard,” a summary of the new draft now calls for all hotels to “maintain continuous front desk coverage and large hotels would be required to have continuous coverage by at least one security guard.” The updated summary also shifts the language from calling on licensees to “directly employ all core and critical employees” to acknowledging that this employment would be “subject to enumerated exceptions.”
AHLA Responds
The American Hotel & Lodging Association has argued that the bill would “impose onerous and unnecessary staffing requirements on NYC hotels and mandate other rules that would needlessly disrupt hotel operations, threaten the successful franchise business model and require some hotel owners to divest of their properties.”
“The city council’s discussions regarding the Hotel Safety Act continue to exclude those who will be most affected by the legislation—hotel owners, management companies, sub-contractors and tens of thousands of hotel workers,” AHLA Interim President and CEO Kevin Carey said in a statement. “It is imperative that all stakeholders have a real seat at the table. If this is a matter of public safety and crime, as has been claimed by Councilwoman Julie Menin and the bill’s proponents, let’s review the facts and statistics to see what picture they paint. Advancing these claims with scant data and no public process will significantly damage the hotel industry, harm New York’s economy, and negatively impact both the city’s reputation and its fiscal health.
“Simply stated, this proposal is bad for everyone: hotels, NYC’s tourism economy, guests, and hotel employees. The revised bill still imposes expensive and burdensome requirements on hotel owners and effectively prohibits hotel management companies from operating in the city. As it stands, these revisions do not resolve the catastrophic consequences of this bill, which could lead to hotel closures and mass layoffs of workers, while ignoring many operational realities and guest preferences. The effects of this abruptly introduced legislation will be far-reaching and potentially devastating.”
“On behalf of the 30,000-plus members AHLA represents, we urge Councilwoman Menin and city council leadership to withdraw this legislation.”