The hotel desk clerk heard the cries, saw the trafficker carry the girl back inside, listened to the violence coming from down the hall, but did nothing.
That victim’s cries, like those of so many others, went unanswered. In fact, 94 percent of human trafficking victims who come in contact with hotel staff, no matter the situation—whether fleeing from a violent enslaver, seeking temporary refuge or being forced to have sex with yet another “client”—receive neither assistance nor even concern from those working on-site.
Institutions built to shelter travelers instead shelter traffickers.
That complicity by hotel staff—which manifests as everything from indifference to outright participation—is one of the reasons that motels and hotels are popular sites for those in the trafficking trade. With lax security and so many people coming and going, traffickers can exploit anonymity. Add to that the fact that most busy motels are in heavily populated areas and near main traffic arteries—thus affording a potentially unlimited customer base and easy access, if needed, to a quick exit to flee from law enforcement—and it’s no wonder that 80 percent of commercial sex occurs at hotels, 20 percent of traffickers use them to house their victims and 69 percent choose hotels when traveling with their victims.
Institutions built to shelter travelers instead shelter traffickers.
But courts are beginning to strip away the protection enjoyed by those who deal in human flesh and those who look the other way. One landmark case led to a $5 million settlement for two women trafficked as children at a Days Inn & Suites by Wyndham in Stockbridge, Georgia.
The girls were just 14 years old when traffickers exploited them at the hotel in March 2013.
According to the suit, staff members did nothing to stop the abuse and, in some cases, even facilitated it. Evidence presented in the case revealed a pattern of indifference and complicity that left two children trapped in a cycle of violence and exploitation.
The settlement is one of several in Georgia holding hotels to account for their role in enabling child sex trafficking—including a $40 million jury verdict against a Decatur motel and a $6 million settlement with a Tucker hotel earlier this year.
With such significant penalties, are there any signs the hospitality industry has learned its lesson? Any acknowledgment of culpability by those who run these facilities? Any shame or regret?
It’s hard to tell as, curiously, the operators of Days Inn and the Decatur and Tucker hotels could not be reached for comment. But court documents furnish a clue as to where their sentiments lie as far as the atrocities committed on their premises and on their watch. Witness the response by the owner of the Days Inn: “Any damages sustained by plaintiffs were caused by their trafficker, buyers, and/or other unidentified persons or entities over whom defendant has or had no control or responsibility.”
Then there’s the extraordinary assertion in court by Decatur’s United Inn & Suites that hotel staff didn’t know that any trafficking was taking place.
Seriously? The waste baskets brimming with condoms? The revolving door of men going in and out of one room every half hour? The muffled cries for help?
Management is sending out a message: “We are not responsible. We wash our hands of this,” while also declining to include “sex trafficking happens here” signs in their glossy brochures.
Attorney Pat McDonough, who handled all three cases, knows how to hold hotel and motel owners accountable when humanity and decency fail to resonate. “The whole goal is to try to change the hospitality industry where it’s not profitable for them to do that,” he said.
“Punitive damages are a message and a statement.… And what it says is, if you’re going to run one of these hotels, you need to do your due diligence,” he added. “There’s a lot of great people that run great hotels and who do the right thing ... it’s just there’s certain places out there that decide they’re going to put profits over people and in this case, over children.”
Armani Johnson, one of the two 14-year-old girls exploited at Days Inn more than a decade ago, has spoken out as a survivor reaching out to other survivors, hoping that if enough share their experiences, the world will no longer look away from the perpetrators and their enablers.
“I would just tell them to be brave,” said Johnson. “I know that it sounds harder than what it may be, but if you take that first step, I promise that God himself is with you.”
