Thanks to the support of our amazing members, 2024 was a banner year for advocacy at the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).
Across the nation and at all levels of government, we achieved an impressive array of policy victories this year. Here are some of the highlights of what we’ve achieved:
Federal Advocacy Victories
At the federal level in 2024, AHLA
- Protected franchisees and the hotel business model by successfully suing the National Labor Relations Board to strike down its joint-employer rule;
- Led a coalition that successfully sued the Department of Labor regarding its overtime rule, which threatened to impose higher labor costs on hoteliers across the country starting in 2025;
- Successfully lobbied for significant increases to federal employee per diem rates for lodging and meals expenses, including a lodging rate increase estimated to be worth more than $86 million to hoteliers;
- Helped secure congressional authorization for the Department of Homeland Security to double the number of available H-2B visas for fiscal year 2024;
- Facilitated the bicameral introduction of human trafficking prevention legislation—the HOTEL ACT, H.R. 9681—which complements AHLA Foundation’s No Room for Trafficking program; and
- Secured passage of the No Hidden FEES Act in the House of Representatives, a bill that would create a comprehensive single standard for transparent and mandatory fee displays across the lodging industry.
State and Local Advocacy Victories
At the state and local level in 2024, AHLA
- Launched an intense lobbying and media campaign in New York City that resulted in significant improvements to a bill that would have caused vast economic harm to the city’s hotel industry and economy;
- Helped pass legislation in Hawaii to rein in illegal short-term rentals, which were unfairly competing against hotels and making housing unaffordable for local residents;
- Stopped flawed legislation in New Jersey that would have wrecked the hotel franchise model in the Garden State;
- Defeated onerous tax policies in several cities and states, including a real estate transfer tax in Chicago and a transient tax in Utah;
- Expanded a global alliance of national hospitality associations to impact policy trends and better support AHLA global membership; and
- Expanded its state and local political program by nearly 40 percent year over year.
Priorities Moving Forward
Voters across the nation this year ushered in a more business-friendly environment in most jurisdictions, and Republicans won the presidency as well as the U.S. House and Senate. This will change the political landscape in 2025, but AHLA’s advocacy approach remains the same no matter who’s in office. We will protect hoteliers’ bottom lines by working to maintain an environment in which hotel professionals can focus on running and growing their business rather than dealing with onerous laws and harmful policies.
That means supporting business-friendly tax rates and policies to expand the workforce, fighting regulatory overreach, protecting the hotel franchise model from government interference, and ensuring a level playing field for hotels and short-term rentals. Specific priorities AHLA is pursuing now and into 2025 include
- Extending the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, more than $4 trillion in tax provisions that will affect hoteliers’ bottom lines;
- Growing the hotel workforce by expanding the number of H-2B visas via bills like the Closing the Workforce Gap Act (H.R. 7262);
- Passing legislation like the Hotel Fees Transparency Act in the Senate and the House-passed No Hidden FEES Act, both of which would create a nationwide standard for lodging cost transparency across the entire industry; and
- Opposing draconian state and local attempts to target hotels with economically damaging operational mandates and red tape.
We are powerful when hoteliers speak with one voice, and AHLA is proud to represent you as we work with lawmakers in both parties to notch more victories for our great industry in 2025 and beyond. Thank you for your support.
