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Hotel restaurateurs and the New York City Hospitality Alliance have been on high alert the past week due to the introduction of a controversial bill. Framed as a safety and cleanliness issue, it pits hotel restaurant owners against members of New York City Council and the politically powerful hotel workers’ union representing over 30,000 hotel and casino employees in New York and New Jersey.
The gist is that 26 members of City Council — enough to pass a bill into law — have signed on to sponsor the potential legislation that, among other things, would transfer the ability to hire staff away from restaurant owners to hotel management. The bill would also require hotels to have licenses that would have to be renewed annually; many believe that the distribution and approval of these licenses would be influenced by the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and community boards.
According to Int 0991-2024, the Licensing Hotels bill “would require hotels to obtain a license in order to operate their business in the City. The application term would be one year, and there would be an annual fee of $200. Large hotels would be required to maintain continuous front desk coverage and have at least one security guard. All hotels would be required to maintain the cleanliness of each guest room. The licensee would be required to directly employ all core and critical employees, who would be subject to safety trainings. The department of consumer and worker protection could refuse to issue or renew a license, or suspend or revoke a license if the hotel violates the conditions of the license. Hotels that violate the license conditions would be subject to civil penalties.”
“I’ve dealt with countless issues,” says Andrew Rigie, executive director of the NYC Hospitality Alliance. “This one has galvanized opposition and outrage unlike any other.”
The bill was introduced in mid-July; the public hearing was originally scheduled for Tuesday, July 30, at City Hall. By Sunday, the hearing had been postponed to allow for feedback before next steps in the committee process.
The Licensing Hotel bill, also known as “the Safe Hotels Act,” has been introduced by Council Member Julie Menin — who represents the Upper East Side and chairs the Committee on Consumer and Worker Protection.
“Specifically, NYPD data shows that over 14,000 complaints regarding hotels were received by NYPD from 2019 to 2023,” she wrote in a statement to Eater. She notes that complains about hotels have doubled in the past five years to the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection. “Putting forth reasonable and responsible licensing requirements, like other major cities use, helps all hotels maintain sensible public safety, health, and working conditions thereby protecting guests, workers and neighborhoods,” Menin wrote on X.
Eater repeatedly reached out to the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council and numerous Council Members who signed on to the bill and have yet to receive responses.
The potential legislation would affect hotels in several ways, but the provision that the NYC Hospitality Alliance and hotel restaurateurs are concerned about would have “severe consequences for restaurant, bar, and nightclub companies that run food and beverage operations in hotels via a lease and or a management agreement,” the Alliance wrote in an alert last week.
Restaurateurs and the Hospitality Alliance fear the legislation would, in essence, nullify existing restaurant leases. “If a restaurant can’t employ their workers, they can’t operate their business,” Rigie told Eater. Most hotel restaurants are structured as third-party operators who hire third-party workers, and as such, under this legislation, restaurateurs would not be able to hire their own employees according to their own standards, as opposed to that of whichever hotel group would then oversee their operations.
There are close to 700 hotels in New York City, with many having at least one restaurant and those in busy tourist areas offering multiple places to eat and drink under one roof. The city’s most famous chefs run some hotel restaurants in high-traffic areas: Andrew Carmellini at Cafe Carmellini in the Fifth Avenue Hotel; Markus Glocker at Koloman in Ace Hotel; and Daniel Boulud of Le Gratin in the Beekman Hotel, to name a few.
Restaurateurs across the industry are strategizing about the next steps, with a few taking to social media. “I’m with you in most of your work,” chef Tom Colicchio wrote in a social media post addressed to Menin on Friday, “but your Hotel Licensing Bill would be a disaster for restaurateurs operating in hotels.” Colicchio runs Temple Court in the Beekman Hotel in the Financial District.
Late last week, the conservative-leaning New York Post editorial board sided with hotel operators in an opinion headlined, “Lawmakers aim to clobber hotels (and NYC economy) to please unions.” The “disastrous bill” if passed would “force the industry to use more union labor, severely limit outside contracting and plead for renewed licenses to operate every year.” The piece did not contextualize how the policy would specifically affect the restaurant industry. However, the head of the Hotel Association of New York City, Vijay Dandapani, told the Post, “This is like a nuclear bomb.”
Law enforcement, the city’s five district attorneys, and the state attorney general are behind the bill, PoliticoPro wrote Monday, reporting that law enforcement said it would “help address safety concerns.” That piece also noted that the potential legislation would strengthen the hotel union. Licensing requirements that would most affect non-union hotels “would also give the union leverage during contract negotiations and could increase its share of the hotel market.”
The legislation could alter the city’s hotel business, according to owners. “Financiers will not finance hotels with licenses that have to be approved every year by the Hotel Trades Council,” a restaurant and hotel source said anonymously, pointing out the union’s power in the city and in backing local candidates.
The hotel workers’ union has a lot of power in New York City, having recently stopped affordable housing projects, pushed to limit the construction of new hotels (many of which are non-union, according to the New York Times), and supported building casinos. The union’s influence, the Times reported, “stems from its loyal membership and its deep pockets, both of which it puts to strategic use in local elections.”
“Its political strength,” the Times reported, “has resulted in more leverage over hotel owners, leading to stronger contracts and higher wages for workers.”
“It’s really scary,” says Terence Tubridy of the group In Good Company Hospitality, which includes restaurants like the newly open Vintage Green on the roof of the Shelburne Sonesta Hotel in Midtown; Penthouse on Park in the Royalton on Park Avenue and several others. “Hotel owners would no longer be able to lease or sublease their space to small business owners as they must be employed by the hotel owner. It would be catastrophic for our industry.”
Although comments about the bill and its short- and long-term implications abound, the general consensus among dissenting restaurateurs and workers agrees on one clear feeling: They don’t feel part of an active conversation led by and for city residents.
“To be clear,” Menin said in an initial statement to Eater, “we have been having very productive conversations with the Hospitality Alliance to address the concerns that have been raised about the impact of the bill on restaurants and bars.” In a follow-up statement, Menin told Eater, “We have made significant changes to the bill to address some of the industry’s concerns and look forward to receiving additional industry feedback and are open to changes.”
Updated July 31 at 12:25 p.m. to include additional statements from Council Member Julie Menin.
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