The massive infestation of the bedbugs in the New York City area has already created havoc for apartment dwellers, retail stores, and even the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. In recent years, it has become a growing concern for New York City’s hotel industry. Over the past five to seven years, hotels began to “change some of their housekeeping protocols” to identify a problem early said Joseph McInerney, President and Chief Executive Officer of the American Hotel and Lodging Association(a trade group). He also noted that the number of lawsuits against hotels over a bedbug complaint has been “miniscule.” But a recent lawsuit by a Nassau County mother may increased this risk for hotel industry.
In a Nassau County Supreme County, Ms. Susanne Igneri filed a complaint in mid October against the renown Waldorf Astoria hotel(owned by Hilton Worldwide) in New York City. She argued that she has spent more than $13,000 in expenses to treat her six year old daughter Sophia. Their complaint suggests that the child is experiencing repeated nightmares and lasting medical issues. If the family prevails, it may spark a rash of lawsuits against the NYC hotel industry. Already, travelers have second guessed staying in New York hotels. If the Igneri family succeeds, hotel operators may also second guess opening new hotels in New York City.
Although the mounting concerns about the bed bug infestation has reduced demand for NYC hotel rooms, an increase in lawsuits could reduce the longer term supply of hotel rooms. This could have a favorable impact on longer term hotel rates. However, this presumes that New York City prevails in cleaning up its bedbug epidemic. It remains to be seen who will win this fight, New York City or the Bedbugs?
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303339504575566413252299180.html?KEYWORDS=bedbugs
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These bedbugs are causing a problem to the hotels in NY. With the lawsuits, the hotels have the chance of loosing their clients because people will not want to stay at hotels that are infested. Hotels have to invest in making these bedbugs go away in order to clean up their reputation. Also if hotels want to keep their clients and want to make them happy, they need to do something about these bugs.
ReplyDeleteWhat a horrible situation for a business to be in. This has resulted of years of decay throughout the city and it will be hard to clean it up fast. I do think, however, that the industry will find help from the state since it is one of the financial centers of the United States. As such they will need people to be frequently flying in and out as they have been for years. The negative publicity will also be hard to deal with and people will especially remember the Waldorf Astoria name as it has been the first to be publicly attacked for negligence.
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