A City Council committee Tuesday advanced a proposal that would increase the minimum wage for hotel and airport workers, with the goal of providing them $30 an 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 issue will go before the full City Council at a later date.
“Now is the right time to do the right thing for workers,” Councilman Hugo Soto-Martinez said in support of the proposal.
But Park expressed concerns about potential harms that could befall hotels and airport concessionaires.
“We are moving forward a 50% increase in wages and health care costs while our entire tourism economy is underwater, and that is directly impacting our sales taxes, our business taxes and our TOT (hotel) taxes and everything else that is impacting our city’s budget,” Park said.
Under the plan, hotel and airport workers would receive $22.50 an hour beginning in July, followed by a $2.50 increase in the following three years. The workers would earn $25 an hour in 2026, $27.50 an hour in 2027 and $30 an hour in 2028 — when the Olympic and Paralympic Games arrive in the L.A. region.
Employers would also be required to provide a new $8.35 per hour payment to cover health care, but the committee agreed to push that requirement to Jan. 1, 2026, instead of July, when the first wage hike would begin.
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.
Such a program would mandate no less than six hours of training for hotel workers. It would inform them of their rights and employer responsibilities, how to identify and respond to human trafficking, domestic violence or violent conduct, among other things.
The City Council would be required to update the city’s Living Wage and Hotel Workers Minimum Wage ordinances.
The Living Wage Ordinance applies to city contractors and ensures that employees are paid a set living wage, setting a cash wage rate and health benefits. The Hotel Workers Minimum Wage ordinance requires hotel employers with 60 or more guest rooms to pay their employees the specified minimum wage and provide 96 compensated hours of off time, and at least 80 additional hours of uncompensated time off per year.
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 with all of the very big, very concerning developments both in federal trade and visitor policies, also international sentiment, as well as even domestic travel and consumer confidence, there’s a lot to be concerned about,” Nakashima said.
The director noted that it will take some time for current conditions to be reflected in the city’s tax collections.
Los Angeles World Airports CEO John Ackerman joined the committee meeting and echoed his message that he previously shared with the council’s Budget and Finance members: LAX is going strong. But he warned about the additional financial burden a minimum wage increase would have on airport partners.
“I’m making no judgments about cost, but cost pressure of any kind right now, we think that some of them will actually make the decision to exit our market and employ their capital with our competitors, which will leave us with a choice of leaving an empty storefront … or we try to replace that partner with someone else,” Ackerman said.
In late April, Visit California reported that statewide travel dropped by 8.8% in February and 12.1% in March. Air travel to California from Canada dropped 15.5%, from Mexico 24.2% and from the United Kingdom 22.1%.
The nonprofit develops and maintains marketing programs to boost tourism in California.
“Flight books from Canada to the U.S. fell by over 70% in early 2025, prompting airlines to cut more than 300,000 seats from LAX through October,” Ackerman added.
The LA Tourism and Convention Bureau has anticipated year-over-year reductions in total international visitors to Los Angeles between 25% to 30%.
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.
“Hotel employees in Los Angeles are paid the highest wages in the country, but right now their jobs are at risk,” Rosanna Maietta, CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, said during a news conference 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.”
Meanwhile, Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11 — the union backing the minimum wage hike — said the measure would boost the local economy and support working families. In a statement, he said, “City leaders have an opportunity to ensure the Olympic and Paralympic Games benefit hard-working Angelenos, and this ordinance does just that.”