Recent allegations in a lawsuit against the W Hotel chain claim hotel employees run their lobbies like brothels, regularly arranging for prostitutes for their guests.
The allegations were contained in a change-of-venue filing by Anna Burgese, a New Jersey woman who was attacked at a Miami W last summer, when a group of prostitutes mistook her for a rival hooker.
Most of the evidence in the case is currently under wraps: lawyers for Starwood Hotels and Resorts (the parent company of the W) successfully lobbied the court to seal video surveillance and hotel personnel files.
But according to the change-of-venue filings—which were not sealed—Burgese and her husband paid undercover agents to visit W Hotels across the country, where employees were allegedly happy to help their guests get laid. According to Philly.com:
"Starwood and W Hotel employees enticed the agents by sending them provocative pictures of prostitutes able to service them at W Hotels. . . . At one such W Hotel, a prostitute used the concierge desk to charge her cellphones and store her purse."
The filing also claimed that the W Hotel provides its guests with free condoms and sexual lubricant, and that its website advertises sex toys.
A manager at the Times Square New York W allegedly told undercover agents, "We manage [prostitution], we let it happen." He then allegedly directed agents to a hotel security guard who offered them a steady stream of strumpets, "like items off a menu."
Oral arguments in the case reportedly begin next month.
[h/t NYDN, image via Eric Broder Van Dyke / Shutterstock.com]
