NYC council OKs hotel bill critics called ‘nuclear bomb’ on industry — now businesses have to pay up

The City Council approved Wednesday controversial new hotel regulations critics had called a “nuclear bomb” on the industry — and now hospitality businesses will have to cough up $350 for licenses.

The plan saw a landslide victory at City Hall, with pols voting 45-4 in support of the legislation that had been substantially amended since it was first proposed, winning buy-in from many hotel owners.

The bill, known as the Safe Hotels Act, will require Big Apple hotels to obtain licenses for two years and adhere to strict licensing requirements or rack up fines as high as $5,000 for infractions.

Council member Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) sponsored legislation which would require Big Apple hotels to cough up $350 for licenses for two years. Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images

The law requires lodging businesses to staff front desks at all hours and provide panic buttons to employees as well as training for staff to identify human trafficking.

Business owners had pushed against the plan because it would ban establishments from contracting out most services — meaning they’d have to directly employ many workers. Revisions to the bill added exemptions for certain jobs and allowed many existing subcontracts to be “grandfathered” in.

Council member Julie Menin (D-Manhattan) said she sponsored the law after seeing NYPD reports of 39 murders since 2009 and the more than 14,000 criminal complaints between 2019-23.

“Our bill is incredibly important for public safety,” she said, adding that giving staff training to identify human trafficking would also be a priority.

“Look at the P Diddy case, where is that bad activity happening? It’s happening largely in hotels.”

Menin said the law also addresses “deplorable working conditions and wage theft” by banning subcontracting for hotels with 100 rooms or more.

“It gives the city jurisdiction to shut down bad actors,” Menin said, pointing to an example of a notorious Queens hotel called the Umbrella that closed after a New Year’s homicide in 2021.

“There finally was a murder after the neighbors had been complaining for years, the city couldn’t shut it down right away because they didn’t have the legal jurisdiction, this would mean they could,” she said.

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat who has run 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. AP

The bill’s safe passage through the council was clinched when a deal was brokered between powerful industry groups the Hotel Trades Council and the Hotel Association of New York City after they had initially opposed it.

Last week, a key provision was added allowing an exemption for small, mostly non-union hotels with 100 and fewer rooms to adhere to a ban on contracting out for “core employees.”

But some critics remain.

American Hotel & Lodging Association interim President & CEO Kevin Carey said that larger hotels are being “arbitrarily targeted.

“From the start, this rushed and haphazard legislative process has been in service of one goal; to deliver a single special interest victory at the expense of small and minority-owned businesses,” he said. 

“This bill will do material damage to the businesses and the tax revenue that hotels generate for the city’s economy and result in higher costs for travelers.”

Mayor Eric Adams, a Democra, is expected to support the bill.