Pimps rent rooms in hotels, then go online to create advertisements in adult sexual
services pages, and finally sell victims in hotels or have
victims meet purchasers at nearby hotels.
In a study by John Jay College of
Criminal Justice and the Center for Court Innovation
on commercial sexual exploitation in New York City,
researchers found that 45% of youth victims surveyed
were exploited in hotels.
Why hotels?
Hotel rooms are a preferred venue for the sale of children because
traffickers believe they are anonymous at hotels, giving
them a sense that there is little risk in their behavior.
They also believe that hotels are risk-free because they
believe training on indicators of child sex trafficking
is not widespread. (See training pictures below. We are working to change that!)
Contrary to what many people think, child sexual
exploitation takes place in hotels of all types. Most
people believe that exploitation only happens in
budget hotels or hotels close to an airport but luxury
or branded hotels are also used by abusers. Former
Subway restaurant spokesperson Jared Fogle engaged
in commercial sex acts with minors in luxury hotels such
as the Plaza Hotel in New York City.
Hotels can be the solution
However, the use of hotels in the sexual exploitation
of children also means that hotels can play a key role
in preventing and disrupting the commercial sexual
exploitation of children. Hotel employees are more
likely to witness human trafficking than the average
person, and they can be trained to recognize and report
suspected incidents to the appropriate authorities.
The information above is an excerpt from ECPAT-USA’s report called “No Vacancy for Child Sex Trafficker’s Impact Report”.
Full ECPAT report here
***
How ENC Stop Human Trafficking Now is helping
We created a two-hour training for hotels. Two hotels have received training this spring, and more are scheduled.
If you work in a hotel that needs to be trained, please email pam@encstophumantrafficking.org.