New York City doesn't require hotels to be licensed. That's likely changing soon
New York City doesn't require a license to run a hotel, but that's likely changing soon
NEW YORK — In New York City, you need a license to cut hair, work as a tour guide or operate a doggy day care. But you do not need one to run a hotel.
That's likely going to change after city lawmakers passed legislation Wednesday that would require hotels to get a license and maintain it by complying with a slate of new rules on day-to-day operations, from how often rooms are cleaned to who can staff the front desk.
If signed into law by the mayor — whose office said he supports the bill — advocates say the bill will reduce criminal activity, increase cleanliness and service levels, and improve labor standards at New York City’s roughly 700 hotels. They run the gamut from luxury five-star venues in Manhattan, where rooms cost upward of $1,000 a night, to budget inns in the outer boroughs.
Most major U.S. cities, including Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles, have some form of hotel permit, but in the Big Apple, hotels are regulated only by separate business, health and building regulations.
“There is desperate need for regulation,” City Council Member Julie Menin, a Manhattan Democrat and the bill's sponsor, told lawmakers ahead of the vote, citing an example of a hotel that received complaints but that the city couldn't shut down.
Under the proposed law, front desk staff, housekeepers and bellhops will have to be employed directly, rather than subcontracted. They’ll be entitled to a panic button system to be able to quickly alert a security guard if something goes wrong. Menin said that the rules on subcontracting would increase accountability by hotel owners “instead of shifting responsibility to third parties.”
For guests, the
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