Can motels legally ban youngsters?
With spring breaks beginning momentarily and summer time holidays not far-off, the query is puzzling a large scope of California vacationers — mother and father reserving their subsequent household trip in addition to adults searching for a child-free escape. And the reply is sophisticated.
The problem flared in February when the Alila Marea Seashore Resort in Encinitas, a part of the Hyatt lodge empire, introduced it will exclude youngsters as in a single day friends, thus turning into the self-described “only adults-only oceanfront resort in Southern California.”
This transfer at a high-profile beachfront property sparked a debate about state legislation and motels’ obligations and has turned eyes on different California motels that exclude youngsters. Within the Palm Springs space, the Colony Palms, the Fleur Noire, the Ingleside Property and La Maison Palm Springs are among the many lodgings whose web sites say they’re adults-only. The Whisky Lodge, which opened March 12 in Hollywood, promotes itself equally.
“We cater to adults only, because that’s kind of our vision,” stated Whisky Lodge basic supervisor Alan Esparza, noting the grown-up environment within the lodge’s Hollywood neighborhood. Nonetheless, in a pinch, Esparza stated, “We make exceptions.”
The main target of the dialog is Part 51 of the state’s Civil Code, extensively referred to as the Unruh Act, which is designed to stop discrimination by race, faith, sexual orientation and 10 different “protected characteristics.” Attorneys, trade veterans and client advocates have cited this act when asserting that banning youngsters from motels is unlawful.
Nevertheless, Part 51 doesn’t specify age as a protected attribute, and state officers do allow rental automotive corporations to refuse leases to drivers underneath 25. However California courts have determined that the Unruh Act prohibits landlords from refusing to hire to households with youngsters.
The Alila Marea Seashore Resort in Encinitas.
(Alila Marea Seashore Resort)
Till state officers present extra readability, trade veterans and client advocates advised, households ought to take care to ensure of a lodge’s coverage earlier than reserving. That may imply speaking to a reservations agent earlier than making a reservation on-line.
“I think it’s really problematic legally” to ban youngsters. “I’m not sure why it hasn’t been challenged before,” stated Jamie Court docket, president of Los Angeles-based ConsumerWatchdog.org. A lodge “is a place of public accommodation and you’re discriminating based on family status.”
In Court docket’s view, “Someone can sue. But it should be the attorney general who is going to court if the hotels don’t back down after a warning. And it should be the attorney general writing warning letters. … I don’t know why the A.G. and the state have become so timid.”
In a 2023 handout to its members, the California Lodge & Lodging Assn. warned hoteliers that the Unruh Act “prohibits hotels from discriminating against minors based on age,” including, “Some lodging operators assume that because some young children or other minors might engage in improper conduct, the hotel has a right to refuse accommodations. This is a dangerous misconception.”
Even when minors are unaccompanied, the affiliation wrote, “It is unlawful to have a blanket policy” prohibiting them. Nevertheless, the affiliation stated, a lodge “can refuse to accommodate individual children and their parents” if there’s “just cause.” The affiliation’s spokesman declined to touch upon any particular circumstances.
One other trade veteran shocked by the scenario is Laurie E. Sherwood, a accomplice on the Irvine-based legislation agency Walsworth, who has dealt with travel-related circumstances for near 30 years. “My initial, gut-level reaction is that hotels are places of public accommodation,” Sherwood stated, and that “it’s a violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act because you’re excluding families with children.”
Many California motels have finessed the problem by proscribing youngsters’s entry with out banning them. Some motels, just like the River Lodge Paso Robles, formally welcome youngsters however ban anybody underneath 21 from the pool and scorching tub. Different motels, such because the elite Put up Ranch Inn in Large Sur, restrict occupancy to 2 folks per room.
At trip rental properties too, households may discover combined messages. Airbnb’s nondiscrimination coverage forbids U.S. hosts from banning youngsters or “charging for fees for guests of a certain age.” However Airbnb hosts typically describe their properties as “unsuitable” for youngsters underneath 12.
On the Alila Marea Seashore Resort in Encinitas, which not too long ago banned youngsters, basic supervisor Richard Sorensen didn’t reply to a request for remark. The Alila chain, a high-end worldwide sub-brand of Hyatt, additionally consists of motels in Large Sur (“an adult-only experience reserved for those 18 years of age and over”) and Napa Valley (the place a reservationist stated households are theoretically allowed, however all rooms and suites are restricted to 2 occupants).
In the meantime, some customers have taken to social media to speak about how youngsters can wreck a lodge expertise. A Reddit person going by WowOwlO opined in a thread on the subject that “children are just loud, messy, and simply don’t belong at a five star hotel. We should be able to have establishments that separate them.”
Past California, many locations permit motels to bar youngsters. The Sandals resorts, all situated within the Caribbean exterior the U.S., have made the absence of kids a key a part of their id.
“There’s definitely a demand for child-free spaces, especially when we’re talking about honeymoons and things like that,” stated D.C. Vekic, president of Cosmopolitan Travels in Northridge.
