U.S. Hotels Used To House Detained Migrant Children Amid COVID-19 Losses

The travel industry was hit especially hard by the COVID-19 Pandemic, as plans to see the world and other parts of the country ground to a halt as cases of the coronavirus took over. However, while they may have been losing revenue, hotel chains were still seeing their rooms filled in other ways—by housing detained migrant children.

According to the Associated Press, since March, as the pandemic started to grip the United States, the Trump administration used several hotels to hold at least 660 children, most of whom were not with their parents, before sending them back to their original countries.

According to data published in federal court filings, Hilton, Marriott and Choice International hotels used various sites as facilities for the detainments, and 25 hotels overall were used, with most holding fewer than 10 children.

Among the Hilton properties were a Hampton Inn & Suites in Phoenix, as well as two others in El Paso and McAllen, Texas. In addition, both a Homewood Suites and Embassy Suites in San Antonio were confirmed to have held 12 and 10 children respectively, and a DoubleTree Hotel in Houston was used twice.

Hilton spokesman Nigel Glennie stated that the company has “no current information” that children were being detained at its properties, though an official policy states opposition to children being detained at properties.

Marriott was found to have four properties in San Antonio and McAllen that were used, as were a TownePlace Suites in Alexandria, Louisiana (17 children) and a Courtyard by Marriott near the El Paso airport (55 children). A Comfort Suites by Choice Hotels in Alexandria was used 12 times.

Choice and Marriott also stated that their brands are opposed to their properties being used for detainment, with Marriot spokeswoman Connie Kim stating that if the reservations were being made by a third party, it would be difficult for their hotels to reject the business.

“If the government is making reservations through a third party, it becomes more challenging for hotels to identify the type of business that is being booked,” she told Associated Press.

The news of the detainments since March comes as the hotel industry overall saw a major decline in business due to the pandemic. According to Marketwatch, Hilton swung a net loss a $430 million because of the pandemic, while Wall Street Journal reports that Marriott saw a second-quarter loss of $234 million.

Resorts in popular tourist destinations have also taken a hit from the pandemic. The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Hard Rock Hotel, Loews Portofino Bay Hotel and Cabana Bay Beach Resorts at Universal Orlando were forced to indefinitely furlough or terminate approximately 840 employees, while MGM Resorts, which operates several casinos along the Las Vegas Strip, is set to lay off 18,000 workers.