Uniform Hotel Visitor Policy

For many years, owners and operators of S.R.O. hotels charged their tenants fees for their visitors and guests. Sometimes guests had to pay up to $20 to visit a friend or family member in a hotel. Though tenants believed they had a right to have visitors without paying additional fees, there was no law preventing operators from taking advantage of this lucrative source of untaxed income. Then in late 2001, the Central City S.R.O. Collaborative worked with local lawmakers to pass the first uniform visitor policy for all residential hotels in San Francisco. Among other things, this law prohibits all visitor and overnight guest fees and protects tenants’ rights to have guests. In April of 2002, the C.C.S.R.O.C. battled hotel operators to win an enforcement mechanism for the law that gave the San Francisco Police Department and Rent Board jurisdiction over the new Visitor Policy.