Red Roof Inn manager joked about ‘pimps and hookers’ as human trafficking rife in hotels, lawsuit claims

A Red Roof Inn senior regional manager’s dirty joke about “pimps and whores” became key evidence against the hotel chain in a historic sex trafficking trial in Atlanta.

Red Roof Inn, one of the country’s largest budget hotel chains, is facing dozens of lawsuits from sex trafficking victims who accuse the company of ignoring obvious signs of abuse at its hotels.

One such lawsuit, filed by 11 women who said they were trafficked at two Red Roof Inn hotels in Atlanta, included an email from the regional vice president of operations who joked that “my pimps and hoes love cigarette snacks.”

Jay Moyer, a manager at two Atlanta hotels at the center of the lawsuit, joked about one hotel’s renovations. In testimony, he said he could have been quoting a customer’s review.

However, lawyers representing the plaintiffs said it nonetheless proved the company was aware that the hotel was “regularly renting rooms to suspected prostitutes and pimps.”

It became a key piece of evidence in a lawsuit seeking to show that the company knew about human trafficking at Red Roof Inn and did nothing to stop it.

Red Roof Inn said it “denies all allegations” in the Atlanta lawsuit and “condemns prostitution and human trafficking in all forms.” It also claimed it has “taken steps to mitigate crime at Red Roof properties,” without elaborating.

Red Roof Inn reached a settlement with the plaintiffs on the eighth day of the trial last month, but it still faces dozens of similar lawsuits from trafficking victims making the same claim.

Investigation conducted by Independent discovered that at least 42 federal lawsuits are pending against the hotel chain and its franchisees. Hundreds of other victims are in the process of filing lawsuits, according to attorneys working on their cases.

The lawsuits and pending cases span the country, covering 39 states and at least 115 Red Roof Inn hotels.

The plaintiffs brought the lawsuits under a 2008 law that allows victims of human trafficking to seek civil damages from any entity or person that knowingly profited from human trafficking.

The victims, some of whom were minors at the time, accuse the company of allowing their rooms to be rented out en masse to human traffickers who forced them to do so. commercial sex work and controlled almost every aspect of their lives.

If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking and needs support, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline by calling 1-888-373-7888, texting 233733, or online via web chat athumantraffickinghotline.org. The hotline operates 24/7 and support is available in 200 languages. All calls are confidential.

If you have any information about this story or other human trafficking cases that you would like to share, please contact us [email protected]