NYC hotels launching $20 million blitz against ‘nuclear bomb’ council bill that could boost room costs
Big Apple hotel owners plan on raising $20 million to launch a new lobbying group to combat a City Council bill they say will destroy the local lodging industry.
The new Hotel Owners of New York also will maintain a $15 million annual budget to sustain its lobbying and education efforts, organizers told The Post.
“This job-killer bill has done the near impossible — galvanized the diverse interests of New York City’s hotel owners,’’ a HONY rep said.
“It’s an existential threat to both the industry itself and the livelihoods of tens of thousands of workers.’’
The dramatic move comes after Democratic City Councilwoman Julie Menin last month proposed new hotel licensing rules that would ban the establishments from contracting out for services or at least push them to directly employ most workers with union contracts.
Menin — who sources say is jockeying to become the next council speaker — introduced the bill at the behest of the influential Hotel Trades Council union, which has donated more than $700,000 to council members since 2021.
Hotel owners say the bill would only drive up room rates in the Big Apple, where customers already pay among the highest in the nation — and them straight out of business.
“The proposed law would impose arbitrary and burdensome operational mandates, severely limiting our ability to manage our businesses effectively,’’ the HONY rep said.
“It disregards the unique needs of our nearly 700 hotels and threatens to destroy the flexibility required to operate in an incredibly challenging market like NYC.
“We won’t be negotiating at all on this bill because it’s a literal death sentence for our industry,’’ the representative said.
In addition to its lobbying efforts, the group also will create an “Annual Hospitality Scorecard” to grade each New York elected official for their support of opposition to industry priorities — and use it to inform New Yorkers, it said.
HONY said it plans to work closely with the broader Hotel Association of NYC and the NYC Hospitality Alliance, among others.
Menin did amend the legislation Friday to include a carve-out ensuring hotel restaurants, bars, and nightclubs aren’t affected, after widespread outcry erupted.
The tweaked bill also now says the subcontracting restriction no longer covers security workers but would still apply to front-desk and housing staff.
Vijay Dandapani, president and CEO of the Hotel Association of New York City, on Sunday slammed the revised bill as still unacceptable.
“The authors of this bill continue to act in bad faith, making changes without any expert input from the industry after claiming they would pause to discuss the bill’s many flaws,” said Dandapani, who previously called the licensing bill a “nuclear bomb” dropped on the lodging industry.
“The promoters of this bill say it would help working people, but it would in fact hurt far more workers than it would help.”
Of the city’s 700 hotels, 400 are non-union.
Menin declined to comment.
The Hotel Trades Council defended its push to have more regulatory oversight of the lodging industry as pro-worker and pro-customer and predicted the council will pass the licensing bill over the owners’ objections
The bill appears to have enough votes to pass the council but not the 34 needed for a potential mayoral override.
Mayor Eric Adams, who was heavily supported by the union during his 2012 mayoral bid, has yet to weigh in on the controversial legislation.
“If a handful of billionaire owners think they can spend millions to intimidate the City Council into rejecting basic health, safety and human trafficking regulations that many other big cities already have, they’re wasting their money,” said HTC spokesman Austin Shaffran.
“There’s no question the City Council will side with everyday New Yorkers, victims of sex crimes and exploited workers over a few billionaire babies.”
