A minimum wage hike for Los Angeles hospitality workers looms as the city’s tourism industry prepares to host a nonstop roster of high-profile international sporting events.

With the city still reeling from January’s devastating fires and persistently depressed tourism, many in the hotel industry are concerned the hotel landscape may be lacking come kickoff.

The FIFA Club World Cup is headed to the City of Angels later this year, followed by the World Cup next year, the Super Bowl in 2027 and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2028.

Los Angeles’ fires were followed by economic turbulence and increasingly negative sentiment toward the U.S. from international travelers, creating challenges for the city’s hotel industry.

The fires gave way to economic uncertainty and cast a pall over what was supposed to be Los Angeles’ tourism rebound year. General nationwide economic turbulence and dampened interest from international travelers have also affected Los Angeles tourism. 

“All of the estimates going into this year did predict that there would be modest growth,” Hotel Association of Los Angeles President and CEO Jackie Filla said. “Then we moved into the new year, and it was sort of just kind of one thing after another.” 

Earlier this month, Los Angeles International Airport fell out of the world’s top 10 busiest airports by passenger traffic, the Los Angeles Times reported.  

“We’re among the worst recovered airports in the country for passenger traffic, and now we’re seeing that performance actually worsen,” Los Angeles World Airports CEO John Ackerman said earlier this month during a board of commissioners meeting. 

International traveler numbers are unlikely to rebound soon, given the “growing wave of negative sentiment toward the US among potential international travelers,” according to a national March report from Tourism Economics. 

Increased immigration enforcement and border security measures, plus a strong dollar making international travel in the U.S. more expensive, further damaged travel totals to the country as a whole, according to the report.

The city’s tourism board declined to provide forecast data or offer projections for the coming years. 

“Given the rapidly evolving political landscape and ongoing developments, projections are subject to significant change and may not reflect future realities,” a spokesperson for the board said via email. 

Hotel openings so far this year are on pace with 2024. Five hotels opened in 2024 in LA County, according to Atlas Hospitality Group data. Of those, two opened in the first quarter. In 2025, two hotels have opened so far in LA County: the Whisky Hotel Hollywood and the AC Hotel Pasadena.

But two hotels, the Hollywood Mama Shelter and the Four Points by Sheraton near the airport, have closed since the start of the year, according to Eater LA and Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification filings. 

Los Angeles International Airport recently dropped out of the world’s top 10 busiest airports.

In the worst-case scenario, more closures could be on the way, Filla said, citing at least 20 hotels that are on a default watchlist for major loans attached to their properties. 

“You’re not going to see a lot of investment in those hotels. You’re not going to see much of any hiring in those hotels,” Filla said. 

Although there are events starting as soon as this summer, Filla said she hasn’t yet heard of them spurring any major hotel booking boosts. 

On Tuesday, hotel industry leaders gathered on the steps of City Hall to voice their opposition to an imminent wage increase for hospitality workers that will gradually raise the minimum wage for workers at the airport and at large hotels to $30 an hour by 2028. 

The city’s tourism industry is “hanging on by a thread,” LA City Councilmember Traci Park told the crowd. Industry leaders have pointed to the minimum wage increase as yet another hurdle for the still-rebounding hotel business. 

But those working in the hotels themselves don’t seem as concerned as ownership associations and elected officials. Kurt Petersen, co-president of Unite Here Local 11, an LA union that represents many workers in hotels across LA and the greater LA region, expressed concern that hotel owners and operators are magnifying the challenges facing the industry in an attempt to tank the minimum wage increase ordinance. 

“The sky is always falling for this industry,” Petersen said.