Los Angeles hotel minimum wage increases aim to raise worker pay, but industry leaders warn of job cuts, rising costs, and risks to tourism ahead of major global events.
Members of the Los Angeles hotel industry are “sounding alarm bells” as they struggle over a city-mandated minimum wage hike signed into law by Democratic Mayor Karen Bass. Industry leaders warn the policy could lead to a severe shortage of room availability just as the city prepares to take the world stage.
“We are absolutely sounding alarm bells. If the city doesn’t start working with the business community, by 2028, things will be very different in terms of room availability at hotels,” Rosanna Maietta, president and CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) told Fox News Digital Wednesday.
The timing is critical. Los Angeles will host a string of high-profile global events, including the 2026 FIFA World Cup matches at SoFi Stadium, the 2026 U.S. Cup matches at SoFi Stadium. Women’s Open Championship and the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Maietta warned that for these events to succeed, hotels must be fully staffed, a task made increasingly difficult by rising labor costs.
“We’ve already seen that impact. I think about 100 restaurants have closed in the last year. If you think about just 6% of workers who have lost their jobs in less than a year, times that by four more years of this. It’s just going to continue to have a negative ripple effect across the Los Angeles community,” she said.
The phased-in mandate requires a massive pay hike for airport and hotel workers. The law, signed by Mayor Bass last year, requires hourly wages to increase by $2.50 annually until they reach $30 per hour by 2028.
A recent AHLA report suggests the mandate has stripped the industry of the flexibility needed to navigate fluctuating market conditions. According to the data, the policy has already led to:
-Reduced hiring and significant cuts to total labor hours
-Delayed or canceled hotel investments and developments
-Reduced airline operations and local restaurant closures.
City Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, a staunch supporter of the wage hike, dismissed the AHLA’s findings. “Billionaire corporations spent millions of dollars trying to avoid paying their workers and providing them healthcare, and they failed,” Soto-Martínez told Fox News Digital Monday. “Now, instead of paying their workers a living wage, they’re pouring even more money into misleading studies, ignoring independent findings that paying workers fairly would provide a massive boost to our economy.”
