HANYC Reaches Final Deal on Licensing Bill with Council Leadership, Union Following Concession on Small Hotels

NEW YORK, NY (10/16/2024) (readMedia)-- Today, the Hotel Association of New York City (HANYC) - the industry representative of nearly 300 hotels in America's largest tourism economy - announced it had reached a final agreement with supporters of Intro. 991 after an additional compromise to protect smaller "mom and pop" hotels was added to previous changes negotiated by the association.

HANYC originally negotiated changes to the legislation that removed overly broad language that would have harmed hotels by allowing for arbitrary use of licensing rules, which were included in an amended "B" version of the bill last month. The final "C" version posted today addresses an additional request made directly by HANYC President and CEO Vijay Dandapani last week to the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council (HTC) and City Council leadership, which will allow small hotels of 100 rooms or less to continue to subcontract "core" employees.

"After our initial agreement with supporters of the legislation to create fair hotel licensing rules and employee protections, we reached out directly to HTC and Council leaders to address the potential impact on mom and pop hotels," Dandapani said. "We were able to negotiate a version of the final bill that now addresses the concerns of both our large and small hotels-and will allow the hotel industry and its workers to thrive in New York City for years to come."

The hotel and hospitality industries were the hardest hit parts of New York City's economy over the last few years. More than 200 New York hotels closed during the pandemic, leaving tens-of-thousands of New Yorkers out of work. Before the pandemic, the hotel industry employed more than 50,000 people who are mostly immigrants and people of color, raised $3.2 billion a year in City tax revenue, and added $22 billion annually to our economy.