After months of contentious negotiations with the hotel industry, the New York City Council is set to approve a bill on Wednesday aimed at improving safety at hotels for workers and guests.
The bill, known as the Safe Hotels Act, will require hotels to obtain licenses in order to operate, and to adhere to the licensing requirements. Hotels must schedule staff at the front desk at all hours, provide panic buttons to employees and keep rooms clean.
The bill has 40 sponsors in the 51-member Council. It is also supported by powerful industry groups, including the New York Hotel & Gaming Trades Council, which championed the effort, and the Hotel Association of New York City, which had initially opposed it.
The bill’s sponsor, Julie Menin, a council member from Manhattan, worked with hotel industry leaders on a compromise after some owners called the bill a “nuclear bomb” for the industry and pledged to spend millions of dollars to stop it.
Hotels with 100 rooms or less will be exempt from a requirement to hire core employees directly; they may still use subcontractors to staff their hotels.
Ms. Menin said that it was important for hotels to be regulated like other businesses in the city.
“The bill will protect workers by mandating panic buttons and human-trafficking training, and at the same time protect guests and communities throughout the city through its public safety protections,” she said in a statement.
New York City has more than 700 hotels, and the vast majority are safe. But there have been notable examples of violence, especially at budget hotels outside of Manhattan.
The bill’s expected passage would be a major victory for the Hotel & Gaming Trades Council, which represents about 35,000 hotel and casino workers in New York and New Jersey, and lobbied hard for it. The union’s president, Rich Maroko, said in a statement that it would provide “sensible health, safety and quality standards for guests and workers.”
Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who ran on a public safety message, is close with the hotel union and is expected to support the bill. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
Mr. Adams, who was indicted on federal corruption charges last month, sounded a positive note when he was asked about the bill in August.
“I love working with the City Council when they talk about how we make our city safer,” the mayor said.
The bill has the strong support of the city’s five district attorneys, who sent a letter to the Council noting that criminal complaints to the Police Department “originate from hotels and motels at a far higher rate than from other types of locations.”
Operators that violate the license conditions would be subject to civil penalties, including fines of up to $5,000 for multiple offenses. The license fee will be $350.
Some hotel groups still oppose the bill and say it would be too onerous on an industry that is still recovering from the coronavirus pandemic.
Vijay Dandapani, president of the Hotel Association of New York City, which represents nearly 300 hotels with more than 80,000 rooms, had vehemently opposed the bill but now supports it.
“Because of changes we negotiated to this legislation that allow for fairer licensing rules and exempt small hotels from unworkable mandates, we now believe it will create practical standards that will protect our industry and its workers,” he said.
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