On the latest episode of the Next Gen in Lodging podcast, hosts Chris Henry and Davonne Reaves welcomed Lilly Rocha, CEO of the Latino Restaurant Association based in Los Angeles, to discuss navigating business in the hotel industry amid immigration crackdowns from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The increased ICE raids have been "catastrophic" for both the restaurant community and Latino restaurant community, leading to decreases in restaurant sales and available workers, Rocha said.
"Obviously that creates issues for the entire economy of Los Angeles, California, in general because we as the Latino workers ... are like the backbone of the workforce, in restaurants," she said. "With the ICE raids, it created a very unstable employment environment where folks were either not going to work at all or just afraid to go to work."
The hosts shifted the conversation to speak about the Hampton Inn hotel in Lakeville, Minnesota, that refused to accept reservations from ICE agents to stay at the property. Hilton removed the property from its systems in response, citing in a statement that the hotel in question was not owned or operated by Hilton.
Reaves said Hilton did what it had to do to uphold its brand standards.
"When you become a franchisee, you have to adhere to their rules. And brands, they have to pretty much accept everyone. Anyone who makes a reservation, they have to accept them," she said. "From a business standpoint, they were out of line."
At the same time, there's an emotional element at play as well.
"From an emotional standpoint, I understand why someone and why other business decide to deny ICE," Reaves said. "But from a business standpoint, it can't be done."
For more from this episode, listen to the embedded Next Gen in Lodging podcast above.
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