ATLANTA, GA: On July 14 the Asian American Hotel Owners Association (AAHOA) engaged in a Small Business Roundtable meeting with officials from the US Department of Justice (DOJ) and key leaders of the small business community in Washington, DC. During the meeting, AAHOA expressed the concerns of hotel owners to the proposed revisions to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

AAHOA Washington District Regional Director Paul Patel informed the DOJ that many hotel owners have already spent a substantial amount of money complying with the current ADA regulations that were enacted in 1991, and are concerned about how the newly-proposed ADA regulations will impact their small businesses in the future.

In addition to the increased costs of compliance, Regional Director Patel explained that many hotel owners are apprehensive about a possible increase in ADA drive-by lawsuits based on the proposed changes to the ADA regulations, because they do not have the necessary resources to defend against frivolous ADA claims in court. AAHOA Vice President of Government Affairs and General Counsel Laura Lee Blake raised concerns about the qualified small business safe harbor provision of the proposed ADA regulations, as follows:

• Instead of providing a defense to claims for alleged violations of the ADA, the safe harbor provision could result in expensive and prolonged litigation for small businesses if they are required to produce financial books and records to prove that they spent a designated percentage of their gross revenues on ADA compliance issues;
• The costs of hiring ADA experts and consultants to assist with compliance issues are not included in the proposed safe harbor calculation;
• There is no indication that a business will be able to carry forward a current-year excess of expenditures on ADA compliance issues to future years for the safe harbor calculation; and
• If adopted, the designated percentage of gross revenues could become the new benchmark for determining whether a business has satisfied the existing "readily achievable" standard for barrier removal.

The following day, on July 15 AAHOA Washington District Ambassador Sonny Patel testified during a DOJ public hearing on the proposed ADA regulations. Ambassador Patel offered a first-hand account of his experiences as a hotel owner in today's economic climate, and his concerns about the proposed ADA regulations. Ambassador Patel identified the current financial demands on his hotels, and discussed the costs of making his hotels ADA compliant. He noted that even though he has strived to ensure that his hotels have been fully compliant over the years, several of the ADA accessible amenities have never been used.

Further, he said that many of the specific provisions involving proposed changes to hotel fitness centers and the acceptance of service animals could result in potential problems with his franchisors and other guests. "According to the calculations published by the DOJ, it will cost U.S. businesses $22.8 billion to comply with the proposed ADA regulations," said AAHOA Chairman Ash Patel. "This is a significant amount of money even in the best of times. At AAHOA, as THE voice for owners in the hotel industry, we must make sure that we stay on top of these important issues and do all we can to influence the outcome of the final regulations."

"AAHOA is committed to providing accessible accommodations to the disabled community, and wants to do its part to ensure that all disabled persons can enjoy life to its fullest," said AAHOA President Fred Schwartz. "The proposed ADA regulations, however, will force our members to spend millions of dollars to make changes to their hotels that may not provide any recognized benefits or even go unused.

We are working closely with the DOJ and other members of the small business community to ensure that our concerns are heard, and our members' interests are protected in future years."