Can hotels legally prohibit children?
With the spring holidays starting momentarily and the summer holidays not far, the question is perplexed a large expanse of travelers from California – parents reserving their next family vacation as well as adults looking for childless escape. And the answer is complicated.
The number was expelled in February when the seaside resort of Alila Marea in Encinitas, which is part of the Hyatt Hotel Empire, announced that it Exclude children as a night guestsbecoming the “only adults reserved for the ocean in Southern California”.
This decision on a property by the high level of the sea has sparked a debate on state law and the obligations of hotels and has turned eyes to other Californian hotels that exclude children. In the Palm Springs region, the Colony PalmsTHE Black flower, THE Ingleside Estate And Palm Springs house Be among the accommodation that websites say they are reserved for adults. The Whiskey Hotel, which opened its doors on March 12 in Hollywood, is promoting the same way.
“We only respond to adults because it is a bit of our vision,” said the director general of Whiskey Hotel, Alan Esparza, noting the adult atmosphere in the Hollywood district of the hotel. However, in a pinch, Esparza said: “We are having exceptions.”
The objective of the conversation is Section 51 of the civil code of the State, widely known as the UNruh law, which is designed to prevent discrimination by race, religion, sexual orientation and 10 other “protected characteristics”. Lawyers, industry veterans and consumer defenders have cited this law when they say that the ban on hotels in hotels is illegal.
However, article 51 does not specify age as a protected attribute, and state officials allow rental companies to refuse rentals to drivers under the age of 25. But the courts of California decided that the UNruh law prohibits owners from refusing to rent to families with children.
The Alila Marea seaside resort in Enciritas.
(Alila Marea Beach Resort)
When he was asked if he was legal for a California hotel to ban children, a representative of the civil rights department declared by e-mail that “the request of the law concerning discrimination based on age depends on specific facts and circumstances”. The press office of the State Attorney General was just as vague, saying: “We are unable to provide legal advice or analyzes.” None of the two agencies cited legal precedents or previous cases.
Until state representatives provide more clarity, industry veterans and suggested consumer defenders, families should take care to ensure the policy of a hotel before booking. This could mean talking to an agent of reservations before making an online reservation.
“I think it is really legally problematic” to prohibit children. “I do not know why it has not been disputed before,” said Jamie Court, president of Los Angeles, based in Los Angeles, Consumerwatchdog.org. A hotel “is a place of public housing and you are discriminating according to family status”.
In the opinion of the court, “someone can continue. But it should be the Attorney General who goes to court if the hotels do not retreat after a warning. And it should be the Attorney General writes warning letters. … I don't know why the GA and the state have become so shy. ”
In a document in 2023 to its members, California Hotel & Hodging ASSN. Hoteliers have warned that the UNruh law “prohibited hotels from discriminating to minors according to age”, adding: “Some accommodation operators assume only because some young children or other minors could engage in bad behavior, the hotel has the right to refuse accommodation. It is a dangerous erroneous conception. ”
Even when minors are not accompanied, the association wrote: “It is illegal to have a general policy” prohibiting them. However, said the association, a hotel “can refuse to welcome children and their parents” if there is “just a cause”. The association's spokesperson refused to comment on any specific case.
Another veteran of the industry surprised by the situation is Laurie E. Sherwood, partner of the Irvine law firm, Walsworth, who treated travel related to almost 30 years. “My initial intestinal reaction is that hotels are places of public housing,” said Sherwood, and that “it is a violation of the civil rights law for an RUH because you exclude families with children.”
Many Californian hotels have softened the problem by restricting children's access without prohibiting them. Some hotels, such as the River Lodge Paso RoblesOfficially welcomes children, but prohibiting anyone under the age of 21 of the pool and hot bath. Other hotels, such as the elite Post ranch in In Big sur, limit the occupation to two people per room.
Also in vacation rental properties, families could find mixed messages. Airbnb non-discrimination policy Prohibited from American hosts from banning children or “charging more costs for guests of a certain age”. But Airbnb hosts often describe their properties as “inappropriate” for children under the age of 12.
At Alila Marea Beach Resort in Encinitas, who recently prohibited children, the director general Richard Sorensen did not respond to a request for comments. The Alila channel, a high-end international sub-brand of Hyatt, also includes hotels Large on (“”An experience reserved only for adults reserved for 18 years and over ”) and Napa Valley (where a tank said that families were theoretically authorized, but all rooms and suites are limited to two occupants).
Meanwhile, some consumers went to social networks to talk about how children can ruin a hotel experience. A Reddit user passing by Wowowlo in A thread on the subject That “children are simply noisy, messy and simply do not belong to a five -star hotel. We should be able to have establishments that separate them. ”
Beyond California, many destinations allow hotels to ban children. THE Sandals The stations, all located in the Caribbean outside the United States, made the absence of children a key element of their identity.
“There is certainly a request for children without children, especially when we talk about honey moons and things like that,” said DC Vekic, president of Cosmopolitan journeys in Northridge.
