Marriott sues franchisee lodge for morphing into NYC migrant safe haven

Marriott Global Inc. is suing one in all its franchisee resorts in Jamaica, Queens, for $2.6 million, alleging that it breached its contract with the hospitality massive by means of morphing right into a town safe haven for migrants.Satisfaction Lodge was once slated to open to the general public remaining November underneath Marriott’s budget-friendly Aloft and Component lodge manufacturers, in line with the criticism filed in federal court docket. As an alternative, the lodge and its principals deserted the take care of Marriott and started running as a migrant safe haven, with out Marriott’s permission and in violation in their franchise settlement, the swimsuit alleges.The criticism says Satisfaction Lodge’s homeowners additionally didn’t take away Marriott indicators and brandings or pay franchise charges, additional violating their settlement. Heath Olnowich, an lawyer for Satisfaction Lodge, mentioned the homeowners declined to remark. In keeping with the criticism, the homeowners come with New York citizens Jai Patel, Krishna Mehta, Chandra Mehta, Jagruti Patel, and Vipul Patel.The lawsuit, first reported by means of felony information website Law360, comes as dozens of New York Town resorts have completely shuttered to vacationers and as a substitute struck offers with town to change into migrant shelters — in particular within the house round Satisfaction Lodge.Greater than 1 in 5 New York Town resorts are actually shelters, which has driven room costs to document highs, in line with the New York Occasions. Just about part of resorts round JFK Airport in Queens have change into shelters, in line with research by means of CoStar, a big supplier of business actual property information.Lodges are a few of the patchwork of greater than 200 emergency safe haven websites that town has used to deal with greater than 210,000 migrants since 2022, although many of the new arrivals have exited town’s care, officers say. Different migrant shelters come with former administrative center structures, sprawling tent towns and homes of worship.The town safe haven contracts have additionally been a monetary boon for some resorts suffering to get well from the pandemic-induced drop in tourism.New York Town lately can pay as much as $185 in step with night time in step with room for hotels-turned-shelters, in line with the company. However town bills have from time to time surpassed marketplace charges, and feature ranged from $55 to $385 in step with night time, in line with a Bloomberg research in June 2023.Different Marriott resorts have additionally change into migrant shelters, together with a minimum of one different website in Jamaica. Attorneys for Marriott Global didn’t reply to a request for remark.Satisfaction Lodge is an 18-story development with 283 rooms, in line with its newest publicly to be had certificates of occupancy with town’s Division of Structures.In a letter that Marriott gained remaining August, lawyers for Satisfaction Lodge proposed some other settlement, which might have allowed the valuables for use for migrant housing, in line with the criticism. The letter mentioned it wasn’t “economically possible” for the lodge to function, given “the deficient state of the economic system and persisted slowdown within the hospitality business.”“New York Town is pressuring resorts within the metropolitan house to take part in its migrant housing methods,” the letter said.Satisfaction Lodge didn’t reply to Marriott’s follow-up requests, together with default notices, the criticism says.

Author: OpenAI