Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Marriott sues franchisee hotel for morphing into NYC migrant shelter
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Aug 10, 2024
Modified Aug 10, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images
By
Arya Sundaram
Published Aug 10, 2024
Modified Aug 10, 2024
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Marriott International Inc. is suing one of its franchisee hotels in Jamaica, Queens, for $2.6 million, alleging that it breached its contract with the hospitality giant by morphing into a city shelter for migrants.
Pride Hotel was slated to open to the public last November under Marriott’s budget-friendly Aloft and Element hotel brands, according to the complaint filed in federal court. Instead, the hotel and its principals abandoned the deal with Marriott and began operating as a migrant shelter, without Marriott’s permission and in violation of their franchise agreement, the suit alleges.
The complaint says Pride Hotel's owners also didn’t remove Marriott signs and brandings or pay franchise fees, further violating their agreement. Heath Olnowich, an attorney for Pride Hotel, said the owners declined to comment. According to the complaint, the owners include New York residents Jai Patel, Krishna Mehta, Chandra Mehta, Jagruti Patel, and Vipul Patel.
The lawsuit, first reported by legal news site Law360, comes as dozens of New York City hotels have entirely shuttered to tourists and instead struck deals with the city to become migrant shelters — particularly in the area around Pride Hotel.
More than 1 in 5 New York City hotels are now shelters, which has pushed room prices to record highs, according to the New York Times. Nearly half of hotels around JFK Airport in Queens have become shelters, according to analysis by CoStar, a major provider of commercial real estate data.
Hotels are among the patchwork of more than 200 emergency shelter sites that the city has used to house more than 210,000 migrants since 2022, though most of the new arrivals have exited the city's care, officials say. Other migrant shelters include former office buildings, sprawling tent cities and houses of worship.
The city shelter contracts have also been a financial boon for some hotels struggling to recover from the pandemic-induced drop in tourism.
New York City currently pays up to $185 per night per room for hotels-turned-shelters, according to the agency. But city payments have at times surpassed market rates, and have ranged from $55 to $385 per night, according to a Bloomberg analysis in June 2023.
Other Marriott hotels have also become migrant shelters, including at least one other site in Jamaica. Lawyers for Marriott International did not respond to a request for comment.
Pride Hotel is an 18-story building with 283 rooms, according to its latest publicly available certificate of occupancy with the city's Department of Buildings.
In a letter that Marriott received last August, attorneys for Pride Hotel proposed another agreement, which would have allowed the property to be used for migrant housing, according to the complaint. The letter said it wasn’t “economically feasible” for the hotel to operate, given “the poor state of the economy and continued slowdown in the hospitality industry.”
“New York City is pressuring hotels in the metropolitan area to participate in its migrant housing programs," the letter stated.
Pride Hotel didn’t respond to Marriott’s follow-up requests, including default notices, the complaint says.
Tagged
Asylum Seekers
housing
Race And Justice Unit
economy
queens
marriott
Arya Sundaram
Arya is a reporter covering race and justice. Got a tip? Email: [email protected] or reach Arya on Signal at 512-650-8767.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Dump truck driver hits and kills cyclist on 34th Street in Midtown, NYPD says
It's the latest in a string of hit-and-run deaths in the city in recent months.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Sep 28, 2026 at 4:15 p.m. ET
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
News
New ingredient mandated for Latin American kitchen, restaurant plates in NJ
The Garden State now requires that corn masa dough and flour made and sold in the state be fortified with folic acid.
By
Arya Sundaram
A Brooklyn jail cell filled with smoke. The emergency button failed, a lawyer said.
By
Samantha Max
Crews launch tunnel machines to dig first new Hudson River rail tunnels since 1910
By
Michael Sol Warren
NYC nor’easter dries up after weather service reports minor flooding
By
Ramsey Khalifeh
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .