Some say proposed wage increase for LA tourism workers will have negative effect on hotel industry
With tourism in Los Angeles rebounding and major events like the FIFA World Cup and Olympics coming to the city within the next five years, there is a new proposal on the table to pay local tourism workers more.
The L.A. City Council on Wednesday discussed an ordinance that would raise wages for tourism works to $25 an hour -- a 40% bump from their current pay.
Councilman Curren Price says the workers of the city's tourism economy are struggling to survive. But hotel owners of smaller boutique hotels say the wage increase will ruin their business.
"Do you want limited service hotels to remain affordable or do you want Los Angeles to be the next Aspen - only affordable for visitors that are rich?" said one owner during Wednesday's council meeting.
L.A. tourism industry experts say the proposed wage increase would have a wide sweeping negative effect on the hotel industry in the city.
"First of all, a lot of people are going to lose their jobs," said Stuart Waldman with the Valley Industry and Commerce Association
"That's just a fact. Anytime there's a minimum wage increase, people lose their jobs. Companies find ways to automate, they'll stop cleaning as often... things will happen that will end up costing people their jobs. That's an unfortunate aspect of this," he added.
As L.A. gears up for the future growth of the tourism economy ahead of global events like the 2026 World Cup and the 2028 Olympics, experts say the proposed wage increase could limit the city's ability to offer world-class accommodations to guests.
"Those events are dependent on world-class... hotels," said Pete Hillan, spokesperson for the L.A. Hotel Association. "We really need to ensure that that can continue so that the city puts its best foot forward."
Hillan added the concern is how proposals like the wage increase will affect the local economy.
"We just don't know, but we know it's not going to be good."
