Marriott sues franchisee for turning New York hotel into migrant shelter

Marriott International is suing one of its franchisees for breach of contract, claiming the defendants violated their agreement with the hotel chain by turning a New York City property into a shelter for migrants.

In a complaint filed in federal court last week, Marriott alleged Pride Hotel LLC, violated its franchisee agreement to run a property in the Jamaica neighborhood of Queens as a dual-branded Aloft and Element hotel, when the operators instead entered into a "lucrative" contract with the City of New York to house migrants and asylum seekers.

Sign and logo of the Marriott Hotels and Resorts. The chain is suing one of its franchisees for using a Marriott-branded hotel as a migrant shelter in New York City. (Roberto Machado Noa/LightRocket via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Aloft and Element are two of Marriott's more than 30 brands, and Marriott claims Pride Hotel not only failed to notify Marriott of its plans, but failed to remove Marriott's trademarks and branding before opening up the hotel as a migrant shelter.

The complaint says Pride Hotel's move caused "significant harm" to Marriott, which is suing the franchisee for more than $2.6 million in damages.

Pride Hotel could not immediately be reached by FOX Business for comment.

Asylum seekers line up in front of the historic Roosevelt Hotel, converted into a city-run shelter for newly arrived migrant families in New York City, on Sept. 27, 2023.  (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)

New York City hotels housing migrants have brought in more than a billion dollars in taxpayer funds since converting their buildings into migrant shelters.

The city is spending an average of $156 per room per night on hotel rooms that house migrants, with some rooms costing the city over $300 per night, according to a report last month from the New York Post.

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The Big Apple has spent about $4.88 billion on the migrant crisis over the last few years, the report notes, $1.98 billion of which has gone toward housing. 

While some of the nearly $2 billion that has been spent on housing has gone to city shelters, roughly 80% of the shelters being used by the city are motels or inns, internal documents obtained by the New York Post revealed.