S 2394: Requires third-party accommodation reservation services identify themselves as such to users and not levy certain cancellation fees.

  
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2394 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 17, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sen. PERSAUD -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Consumer Protection AN ACT to amend the general business law, in relation to requiring third-party accommodation reservation services identify themselves as such to users and not levy certain cancellation fees The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 2 391-x to read as follows: 3 § 391-x. Third-party accommodation reservation services. 1. Defi- 4 nitions. For the purposes of this section, the following terms shall 5 have the following meanings: 6 (a) "Place of public accommodation" shall mean any inn, hotel, motel, 7 motor court or other establishment that provides lodging to transient 8 guests. Such term shall not include an establishment treated as an 9 apartment building for purposes of any state or local law or regulation 10 or an establishment located within a building that contains not more 11 than five rooms for rent or hire and that is actually occupied as a 12 residence by the proprietor of such establishment. 13 (b) "Third-party accommodation reservation service" means any website, 14 mobile application or other internet service that: (i) offers or 15 arranges for reserving on-premises service for a guest at a place of 16 public accommodation; and (ii) that is owned and operated by a person 17 other than the person who owns such place of public accommodation. 18 (c) "User" means any individual using a third-party accommodation 19 reservation service to make reservations for themself and others in 20 their party. 21 2. A third-party accommodation reservation service shall, upon a user 22 attempting to complete a transaction on such service, inform the user 23 that the third-party accommodation reservation service is not the place 24 of public accommodation but instead a third-party accommodation reserva- EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD06103-02-5 
 S. 2394 2 1 tion service. Users will then have the option to continue to use the 2 third-party accommodation reservation service or cancel the transaction. 3 At no point before a user chooses to continue to use the third-party 4 accommodation reservation service shall the service charge the users' 5 credit card. 6 3. No third-party accommodation reservation service shall levy a fee 7 of more than ten percent of the cost of the first night of a reserved 8 accommodation upon a user for canceling such reservation within forty- 9 eight hours of the intended stay and shall not levy any such fee where 10 the reservation is canceled more than forty-eight hours in advance, 11 should the hotel waive the cancellation fee. Should the hotel not waive 12 the cancellation fee, a third-party accommodation reservation service 13 shall collect the cancellation fee and no more than a ten percent penal- 14 ty. 15 4. Any person who violates, or causes another person to violate, a 16 provision of this section or any rule promulgated pursuant thereto, 17 shall be subject to a civil penalty that shall not exceed one thousand 18 dollars for each violation. Violations by third-party accommodation 19 reservation services under this section shall accrue on a daily basis 20 for each day and for each place of public accommodation with respect to 21 which a violation of this section or any rule promulgated pursuant to 22 this section was committed. A proceeding to recover any civil penalty or 23 restitution authorized pursuant to this section may be brought within 24 any agency of the state designated to conduct such proceedings. 25 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall 26 have become a law.