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House committee backs consumer-notice changes for hotels, adopts DCCA amendments to SB 83
Summary
The House Judiciary and Hawaiian Affairs Committee recommended SB 83 with amendments to require hotel notice of service disruptions and restore consumer remedies; committee adoption was recorded after testimony from consumer advocates, hotel workers, and hotel industry representatives.
Chair David Tarnas opened the discussion of Senate Bill 83, SD2, HD1, which would require hotel keepers to provide notice to guests and third‑party vendors about certain service disruptions. The committee voted to adopt amendments from the Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs (DCCA) to reinstate remedies and add a no‑waiver provision, and recommended the measure with technical edits.
Representatives of the DCCA’s Office of Consumer Protection urged reinserting remedies and adding language that would void any attempted waiver of the notice requirements, saying without remedies “this bill has no consequences for a violation.” An agency representative framed the proposal as correcting an informational asymmetry and preventing what the witness called “bait and switch” practices when hotels advertise services they know they cannot deliver.
Kekoa McClellan, speaking for the American Hotel & Lodging Association and the Hawaii Hotel Alliance, said the industry opposed the bill as drafted but offered amendments intended to make it workable, citing operational and distribution challenges when guests are booked through online travel agencies. McClellan said the industry supports transparency for guests but warned the bill as written would create practical difficulties for hotels to notify all guests in some circumstances.
Hotel workers and union representatives testified in support of stronger notice and enforcement. Ben Sadowski of Unite Here Local 5 said advance notice of disruptions such as labor stoppages, construction, or amenity closures gives guests options and helps protect the state’s tourism reputation. Individual testifiers who identified as hotel employees and guests described being upset when major disruptions were not disclosed and urged the committee to restore penalties and consumer remedies.
After questions from members about the scope of covered disruptions and implementation details, Chair Tarnas recommended adopting the DCCA amendments, making technical edits, and defecting the bill’s effective date for further work. The committee recorded a roll‑call vote adopting the recommendation and moved SB 83 out of committee with amendments.
The committee’s next procedural step is to transmit the bill with the committee’s adopted amendments; the chair also encouraged the hotel industry to follow up with the Consumer Protection & Commerce Committee for implementation details.
