On Tuesday, June 9, the City Council is rushing through an emergency ordinance that would pile massive new costs onto Santa Monica's already-struggling hotels. No community input. Six hotel union-funded council members poised to vote on it.
Most Santa Monica residents have no idea this vote is happening Tuesday night. Here's what you need to know.
Santa Monica already ties its hotel worker wages to whatever Los Angeles sets. Now the City Council wants to adopt LA's brand-new expanded wage structure: steep wage increases plus a new mandatory health care contribution on top of the hourly wage for every covered worker. This was placed on the agenda with virtually no notice to hotel owners, employees, or the public.
Starting July 1, 2026, less than a month away, the base wage jumps to $25/hour. Hotels that don't provide a defined health benefit package must also pay an additional $4.25/hour per covered worker, with no exceptions for part-time employees, employees who have already declined benefits because they're covered by a spouse, or any other circumstance. By 2030, the wage alone hits $30/hour with benefit costs escalating on top every year. For many hotels, this is simply not survivable.
Los Angeles's new ordinance exempts hotels with fewer than 60 rooms. Santa Monica currently has no such exemption. Every hotel is covered regardless of size. Of Santa Monica's 41 hotels, 16 have fewer than 60 rooms, and 13 have fewer than 40. The Council has the opportunity to adopt this exemption. So far, there is no guarantee they will.
Staff is requesting an emergency ordinance, bypassing the normal 30-day public review period so it takes effect the moment it passes. There is no genuine emergency. The City has known about the July 1 effective date for months. This is a deliberate choice to rush through a major policy change before the community has a chance to push back.
Unite Here Local 11, the hotel workers' union that directly benefits from this ordinance, spent heavily to elect the current council majority. Those same council members are now being asked to vote on a union-driven policy. This is a textbook conflict of interest. Residents deserve to know about it, and union-funded council members should recuse themselves.
In the 2024 elections alone, Unite Here Local 11 channeled $275,000 into a PAC backing four specific council candidates, all of whom won. Combined with previously elected union-backed members, six of the seven current council members have received substantial Unite Here support.
Our elected officials routinely claim they want to support local businesses, attract investment, and help Santa Monica thrive. So why do they repeatedly put the demands of outside organizations — like a regional union whose members largely don't live here — ahead of the businesses and residents who actually make up this community? Santa Monica's hotels, their employees, and the tax revenue they generate deserve the same commitment our council members claim to stand for.
This isn't speculation. These are the actual wage rates Santa Monica would be locked into, set by Los Angeles, with no ability for local officials to adjust them based on our own economy.
Source: City of Los Angeles Ordinance No. 188944, adopted May 26, 2026. Santa Monica Council proposes adopting this schedule in full, effective July 1, 2026.
When hotel operating costs rise faster than revenues, a predictable chain of events follows, and every consequence hurts the Santa Monica community, not just hotel owners.
Hotels reduce hours and eliminate positions. The workers these ordinances claim to protect are often the first to feel it.
Deferred upgrades mean aging, less competitive properties, pushing visitors and their spending to neighboring cities.
When a hotel closes, those jobs and that tax revenue are gone permanently.
Less TOT means less funding for parks, after-school programs, public safety, and city services everyone depends on.
Fewer hotel guests means less foot traffic and fewer dollars flowing through local restaurants, shops, and attractions.
Developers watch what happens to existing hotels. A hostile cost environment kills future projects before they start. Multiple significant hotel expansions and renovations that have already received city approvals, including some high-profile projects, are now being quietly scaled back or shelved entirely as owners run the numbers on these escalating mandates.
Santa Monica's hotel rates are already among the highest in the LA region — and on top of that, Santa Monica charges one of the highest Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) rates in the entire state. Guests are already paying a significant premium just to stay here. Guests compare prices instantly online — and if Santa Monica hotels raise rates further to absorb these new costs, bookings will shift to Beverly Hills, the South Bay, Orange County, and other nearby markets that don't carry the same mandates or tax burden. Fewer bookings means fewer jobs, less local spending, and critically — less TOT revenue for the City. There is no way to simply pass these costs along. The market will not bear it.
Hotel guests pay Transient Occupancy Tax that directly funds city-operated after-school and youth programs, parks, public safety, and infrastructure Santa Monica residents rely on every day.
Santa Monica hotels employ thousands of our neighbors at every skill and income level. These are real community jobs.
Hotel visitors fill local restaurants and shops. A weaker hotel sector means less foot traffic and less revenue for small businesses across the city.
Every voice counts. Here is how to make yours heard before it's too late.
Demand that union-funded council members recuse themselves and that this item be pulled until proper, transparent stakeholder outreach is completed.
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Unite Here routinely buses in large numbers of non-Santa Monica residents to pack council chambers and drown out local voices. Santa Monica needs actual Santa Monica residents and business owners, people who truly live, work, and pay taxes here, to show up or call in and be heard. Don't let outside voices speak for our community.
Tuesday, June 9 · 5:30 PM · City Hall, 1685 Main St.
📋 View the Agenda ItemMost Santa Monica residents have no idea this vote is happening Tuesday. Share this page with neighbors, friends, and local business owners immediately. That's exactly how they want it. Let's change that.
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