Motel 6 is taking bigger steps to respond to reports that two of its Phoenix locations were sending daily guest lists to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials — resulting in at least 20 arrests from raids on their rooms this year.
G6 Hospitality, the company that owns the Motel 6 chain, confirmed Wednesday night that the guest lists were being shared but said the practice was being discontinued. Thursday evening, G6 Hospitality issued another statement to ThinkProgress explaining that it would be ensuring no other location endangers its guests in such a fashion in the future.
“Moving forward, to help ensure that this does not occur again, we will be issuing a directive to every one of our more than 1,400 locations nationwide, making clear that they are prohibited from voluntarily providing daily guest lists to ICE,” the statement read. “Additionally, to help ensure that our broader engagement with law enforcement is done in a manner that is respectful of our guests’ rights, we will be undertaking a comprehensive review of our current practices and then issue updated, company-wide guidelines.”
The latest incidents at the two Phoenix locations, first reported by the Phoenix New Times, were not the first time Motel 6 has been found voluntarily disclosing guest information to public officials. In 2015, a Motel 6 location in Warwick, Rhode Island was similarly providing local police with a daily guest list. In neither case were guests ever informed that their information would be shared.
“Protecting the privacy and security of our guests are core values of our company,” the new statement concludes. “Motel 6 apologizes for this incident and will continue to work to earn the trust and patronage of our millions of loyal guests.”
Protests were already planned Friday for various Motel 6 locations in Florida and Texas, including its corporate headquarters in Carrollton, Texas.