We need your help! The City of Phoenix is hosting two public meetings about the Phoenix Healthy Tourism and Hospitality Ordinances next week and we need industry representatives to join the virtual meetings. Please RSVP and provide public comment.
Schedule of Public Meetings
July 15th: 2:00PM-3:00PM
July 16th: 9:30AM-10:30AM
*The same presentation will be given at each meeting.
To RSVP and receive the link, or phone number, for the meeting, please send your name, email address and phone number to phx.business@phoenix.gov or call 602-262-5040 and you will be sent the virtual meeting information. The meeting will be hosted on WebEx or you can call in to the presentation.
TALKING POINTS
- Arizona has lost more than 40% of Hospitality jobs
- The state has lost nearly $2 billion in visitor spending
- Tourism is a staple of our state’s economy producing $3.37 billion in tax revenue, $22.7 billion in visitor spending, and supports more than 300,000 jobs.
- Now is not the time to be adding costly regulatory burdens on businesses who are trying to make payroll and keep their doors open
- These ordinances will cost hotel owners millions of dollars and result in the closure of additional properties
- These wide sweeping ordinances were drafted with no public comment and no input from the industry or the thousands of Phoenicians that work in the tourism industry and depend on it for their livelihood.
- Arizona’s tourism industry is being cautious and methodical when it comes to taking proper precautions to limit and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
- Our industry has been extremely innovative and resilient in order to keep our doors open, keep team members employed and provide a safe and healthy experience.
The “PHOENIX HEALTHY TOURISM and HOSPITALITY ORDINANCES” would negatively impact:
- Airline Food Caterers – any enterprise that prepares food or beverages for aircraft crew and/or passengers, delivers food or beverage for aircraft crew and/or passengers, or provides any other service in connection with food or beverage for aircraft crew and/or passengers.
- Airport Service Providers – any enterprise that prepares or sells food or other retail products or services to customers at the Phoenix Sky Harbor.
- Campus Service Providers – any enterprise that prepares or sells food or other retail products to customers at any public or private college or university with more than 1,000 enrolled students
- Event Centers and Stadiums – any enterprise engaged in business at a convention center, stadium, arena, or like venue with a total capacity of at least 1,000 people.
- Hotel and their Restaurants – Any hotel with greater than 150 rooms, including any restaurant and any contracted, leased or sublet premises operated in conjunction with a hotel.
The three unfunded and onerous mandates would do the following:
- Add mandatory paid 15-minute breaks for all employees every 4 hours
- Limit the rooms and space that housekeepers are allowed to clean in a shift (in many hotels, will require 50% more housekeepers).
- Impose outside 6-hour “hygiene training” on all employees, which must also include training on their rights under City laws
- Require written offers to furloughed employees for 10 days before another can be hired for the position.
- Designates the order you may bring back workers (by seniority), the wages and positions you may bring people back for
- Adds massive record-keeping requirements and complex regulations
- Creates new opportunities for employees and the City to sue hotels
- Only exempts hotels which enter into a collective bargaining agreement
