On Tuesday, a City Council committee moved forward with a plan aimed at boosting the minimum wage for employees working in hotels and airports, targeting to achieve $30 per hour by 2028.
The Economic Development and Jobs Committee voted 3-1 in favor of the proposal with a few changes. Councilwoman Traci Park, whose 11th District includes Los Angeles International Airport, opposed the wage increase, while Councilman Adrian Nazarian was absent during the vote.
The matter will be presented to the entire City Council at a future meeting.
“Now is the appropriate moment to take action that benefits employees,” stated Councilman Hugo Sote-Martinez in endorsement of the proposition.
However, Park voiced worries regarding possible damages that might affect hotels and airport vendors.
“We are implementing a 50% rise in salaries and healthcare expenses even as our complete tourism sector struggles, which is directly affecting our sales taxes, business taxes, and hotel taxes along with every other aspect influencing our city’s budget,” Park stated.
As per the proposal, employees at hotels and airports will start receiving $22.50 per hour from July onwards, with an additional increment of $2.50 each year for the next three years. By 2026, they will be earning $25 an hour; this increases to $27.50 hourly in 2027, reaching $30 an hour by 2028—coinciding with the timing of the Olympics and Paralympics in the Los Angeles area.
Employers would additionally have to supply an extra $8.35 hourly amount for healthcare starting from January 1, 2026; however, the committee decided to delay this mandate until later than the initial minimum wage increase scheduled for July.
The city is expected to establish a public housekeeping training requirement as well, similar to policies in Santa Monica and West Hollywood, but it would only affect hotels with more than 60 rooms.
This initiative would require at least six hours of training for hotel employees. The training would cover their rights and the responsibilities of employers, as well as teach them how to recognize and react to incidents involving human trafficking, domestic violence, or violent behavior, along with several additional topics.
The Municipal Assembly would need to revise the city’s Living Wage and Hotel Workers Minimum Wage regulations.
The Living Wage Ordinance targets city contractors and mandates they pay their staff a designated living wage, which includes both a base hourly wage and healthcare benefits. Meanwhile, the Hotel Workers Minimum Wage ordinance obligates hotels with sixty or more rooms to offer their workers the established minimum wage along with providing them with ninety-six hours of paid leave and an extra eighty hours of unpaid vacation annually.
According to the draft ordinances, hotel owners could apply for a waiver of the housekeeping training requirement — if they can demonstrate a potential risk of bankruptcy, shutting down, or result in a reduction to its workforce by 20% or curtail its hotel workers’ total hours by more than 30%.
Airport concessionaires with fewer than 50 employees would be able to apply for a one-year hardship waiver to delay any new wage and health benefit increases.
Kim Nakashima, director of policy and research for the city Department of Transportation, noted that international visitation to Los Angeles is still below pre-pandemic levels, but metrics were holding steady compared to the prior year.
“Naturally, considering all the significant and worrying changes in federal trade and visitor policies, along with shifts in international attitudes and even domestic travel and consumer trust, there’s plenty to worry about,” Nakashima stated.
The director noted that it will take some time for current conditions to be reflected in the city’s tax collections.
The CEO of Los Angeles World Airports, John Ackerman, attended the committee meeting and reiterated the point he had made earlier to the council’s Budget and Finance members: LAX continues to perform well. However, he cautioned that increasing the minimum wage could impose extra fiscal strain on the airport’s business associates.
I am not passing judgment on costs, but currently, any form of financial pressure could lead some partners to decide to withdraw from our market and invest their resources elsewhere,” Ackerman explained. “This would force us into one of two options: either we let the store location remain vacant or attempt to find another collaborator to fill the void.
In late April, Visit California announced a decline in statewide travel with an 8.8% drop in February and a 12.1% decrease in March. The data also showed that air travel to California saw a reduction of 15.5% from Canada, 24.2% from Mexico, and 22.1% from the United Kingdom.
The non-profit organization creates and manages marketing initiatives aimed at increasing travel to California.
“Bookings for flights from Canada to the U.S. dropped by more than 70% in early 2025, leading airlines to reduce over 300,000 seat capacities at LAX until October,” Ackerman noted.
The LA Tourism and Convention Bureau expects year-over-year decreases of 25% to 30% in total international tourists visiting Los Angeles.
On Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced that tourism grew in the state last year, reaching a record-high impact of $157.3 billion, an increase of 3% compared to 2023. He also forecasted a 1% decline in overall visitation and a 9.2% decline in international visitation in 2025.
Hoteliers and airport concessionaires criticized the wage-increase proposal, saying it would raise labor costs and could force some businesses to shut down.
“Los Angeles hotel workers receive the highest salaries nationwide; however, they currently face job insecurity,” stated Rosanna Maietta, CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, during a press briefing held at City Hall on April 29.
“City leaders are considering a damaging proposal that will jeopardize these jobs; it would devastate much needed tourism related tax revenue and lead to the closure of hotels that are desperately needed to successfully host the 2026 World Cup, the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympics.”
In the meantime, Kurt Petersen, who is the co-president of Unite Here Local 11—the union supporting the increase in the minimum wage—stated that the proposal would enhance the local economy and aid working families. He expressed his views in a statement, saying, “Local officials can seize the chance to make certain that the Olympic and Paralympic Games bring advantages to diligent Angelinos, and this ordinance accomplishes precisely that.”
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