Los Angeles is preparing to host the 2028 Summer Games, yet the city may now be realizing the Olympic-sized consequences of a problem it created. The planned $30 minimum wage for hotel and tourism workers is raising concerns from local hotels and businesses, and now the Los Angeles City Council president is proposing to slow down the very wage hike they passed less than a year ago.
In May 2025, the City Council voted to raise its existing minimum wage for hotel workers to $25 next year, on the way to $30 an hour by July 2028.
As local business and tourism groups began preparing for the world to come to town for the 2028 Olympic Games, many immediately warned that the new hike – one of the highest industry mandates in the nation – would place overwhelming pressure on hotels and related industries. They said the mandates would force layoffs, reduce service levels, and even push smaller operators to close.
Now it seems city leaders are getting cold feet. The Los Angeles City Council President has introduced a motion that would delay implementing the $30 target out to 2030.
It’s no wonder – recent EPI analysis of quarterly federal data found that since the higher hotel wage mandate began in 2015, the city’s hospitality industry employment stagnated last year.
New monthly federal estimates show in recent months, the city’s higher hospitality wage hikes are slashing jobs compared to prior years.
- Starting last summer, when the city’s hotel wage mandate surpassed $20 per hour, Los Angeles experienced year-over-year job losses every month in the accommodation and food services industry.
- Since July 2024, Los Angeles is down as much as 6,000 hospitality industry jobs.
While the LA City Council president’s proposal is some acknowledgement of the concerning trends already hitting the city’s hospitality industry, merely slowing down one of the highest mandates in the country is unlikely to provide permanent relief.
While bringing the Olympics to LA was supposed to be an economic jumpstart to local communities and businesses, hospitality operators are pulling out of their Olympic commitments. The Wall Street Journal reported hotel operators are canceling renovation projects, scaling back service in restaurants and valets, or even trying to pull out of LA altogether. Many are also reporting pulling out of room block agreements for Olympics-related events.
One hotelier commented that the hardships brought on by the new wage mandate are “going to leave LA in sort of an embarrassing situation” when global sporting events like the World Cup and Olympics come to town.
A delayed timeline may ease immediate pressure, yet the underlying issues remain. Unless the city reconsiders the full scope of its wage plan, Los Angeles’ hospitality sector will continue to absorb the fallout of rising costs at a moment when stability is most needed.