Q&A
Addressing resort fees and improving consumer protection in hotels
0:48:43
·
110 sec
Council Member Gale A. Brewer inquires about how to address the issue of resort fees in hotels, which she describes as 'outrageous.' She asks whether this would be addressed through legislation or as part of the licensing requirements.
- Deputy General Counsel Melissa Iachan explains that resort fees are a common practice in the industry worldwide and suggests incorporating transparency and disclosure requirements into the licensing scheme.
- Assistant Commissioner Carlos Ortiz emphasizes DCWP's experience in licensing various business categories and their commitment to working with businesses to ensure successful implementation.
Gale A. Brewer
0:48:43
Okay.
0:48:43
One other quick question based on the the resort fee or whatever you call it, that fee thing.
0:48:48
Is that something that is In, like, how would you fix that?
0:48:54
Would that be legislation?
0:48:55
Would it be that the hotels, if they have a license, they can't do x, y, and z, etcetera.
0:49:01
How would that be that's outrageous.
0:49:03
I didn't I mean, not going to a hotel in New York.
0:49:06
I wouldn't know it, but how would that be fixed?
Melissa Iachan
0:49:09
Thank you, council member.
0:49:10
Well, I wish it were just limited to New York, but, actually, this is a common practice at around the industry, around the world, but especially in this country and especially in this city.
0:49:22
We hope to continue to work with the council to actually potentially incorporate it into this legislation as a part of the licensing scheme.
0:49:30
In many of our licensing schemes, being the Consumer Protection Agency who also is charged with enforcing the Consumer Protection Law of the city, we're very focused on transparency and disclosures to consumers.
0:49:44
So they know exactly what they're purchasing when they decide to purchase it when they put their first payment down when they give their credit card information.
0:49:52
So it this would really be just a function of transparency and disclosure requirements.
Gale A. Brewer
0:49:57
Thank you very much.
Carlos Ortiz
0:49:58
Counsel, if I could just add one other point about kind of our licensing expertise.
0:50:03
You know, we we do license, I think, over 40 categories, over 40,000 businesses.
0:50:09
You know, we wanna make sure this works for the businesses too.
0:50:12
I think there's sometimes it could be scary.
0:50:14
To to come into under further regulation by the city.
0:50:18
But I think what has made our agency so successful in that work is that we are a willing partner and wanna have open discussions with folks to make sure we get to the right place.
0:50:26
HOTELS ARE IMPORTANT FOR NEW YORK CITY, AND WE WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT THEY'RE SUCCESSFUL BECAUSE THAT WILL HELP OUR WORKERS BE SUCCESSFUL AND OUR CONSUMERS.
