Title
Ordinance Amending Chapter 13 of the Greensboro Code of Ordinances with Respect to Licenses, Taxation and Misc. Business Regulations - Section 13-11 Hotels, Motels, Boardinghouses, Rooming Houses, Tourist Homes, and Tourist Courts
Body
Department: Executive
Council District: All
Public Hearing: No
Advertising Date/By: N/A
Contact 1 and Phone: Tom Carruthers, City Attorney, 373-2320
Contact 2 and Phone: Terri Jones, Assistant City Attorney, 373-2320
PURPOSE:
To amend Section 13-11, Hotels, Motels, Boardinghouses, Rooming Houses, Tourist Homes, and Tourist Courts by updating the guest register inspection authorization in accordance with federal law.
BACKGROUND:
Currently, Section 13-11 of the City Code of Ordinances requires all operators of hotels, motels, boardinghouses, rooming houses, tourist homes, tourist courts, and similar places (collectively "hotels") to keep a guest register. The guest register must include the name and home address of each person renting a room and the person's vehicle description and license plate information. Section 13-11 also authorizes any law enforcement officer within the territorial jurisdiction and any official of the fire prevention bureau of the City to inspect the guest register at any reasonable time. In 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States determined that a similar ordinance in Los Angeles, California requiring that hotel operators make their guest registers available to the police on demand is facially unconstitutional. In the case of City of Los Angeles v. Patel, et al., the Supreme Court decided that a police officer must obtain the hotel owner's consent or a proper administrative search warrant in order to view or obtain a copy of the guest register.
The City of Greensboro imposes a room occupancy tax which is collected by Guilford County and remitted to the City. The guest register is a tool to verify what rooms were occupied and who paid the room occupancy tax. In addition, a guest re...
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