UNITE HERE Report: AHLA Plan Falls Short on Sexual Harassment Protection

Industry Group Fails to Acknowledge Hotel Owners' Responsibility

On September 6, 2018, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) announced its "5-Star Promise," a long overdue response to widespread sexual harassment and assault in the hotel industry. AHLA's Promise contained a set of voluntary, non-binding recommendations lacking specific scope or timeframe for adoption and assigned no role or responsibility for hotel REITs or other owners, despite the risks and liabilities that sexual harassment holds for them:

• In 2018, Host Hotels and Resorts HST, the world's largest hotel REIT opposed a shareholder proposal to increase disclosures about the impact on investors of hotel operators' environmental, human rights, and labor practices.
• Sunstone Hotel Investors SHO, another hotel REIT, declined to share information about the costs of and risks to the REIT from sexual harassment claims by hotel employees despite a March 2017 settlement of a lawsuit by two female employees of the hotel alleging sexual harassment and threats of retaliation.

UNITE HERE provides an analysis of the ongoing risks of sexual harassment facing hotel REITs and their investors here.

Around 7,000 hotel workers are on strike at Marriotts MAR in San Francisco, Boston, Hawaii, San Diego, and San Jose. The main issues are economics and Marriott's "Make a Green Choice" program that puts housekeepers at greater risk of pain and injury. Well known environmental, social, and governance ("ESG") failings at hotel REITs predate the strikes.

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