Washington, D.C. – February 12, 2016 – The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) today applauded Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Deb Fischer (R-NE) for their leadership and partnership with the hotel industry introducing bipartisan legislation to ensure 911 direct dial capabilities. The hotel industry and AH&LA, the sole national association representing all segments of the nearly 2 million-employee lodging industry, have been working closely with lawmakers to ensure hotel guests and employees can dial 9-1-1 and directly reach emergency personnel on any phone. Representatives Louie Gohmert (R-TX) and Mike Thompson (D-CA) have introduced a companion bill in the House. 

“The safety and security of our guests and employees is of utmost importance to the hotel industry, which is why AH&LA has worked aggressively to ensure that systems are in place for guests to directly dial 911 from guestrooms,” said Katherine Lugar, President and CEO of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA). “We applaud Senators Klobuchar’s and Fischer’s leadership for introducing this critical legislation that provides a commonsense solution that does not burden small business and property owners, but accomplishes the goal of streamlining communication to emergency personnel. AH&LA has worked closely with our membership to implement 911 direct dial access and we will continue this work to ensure that hotel rooms around the country have this access. We look forward to working with Senators Klobuchar and Fischer to advance this important legislation.”
 

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Serving the hospitality industry for more than a century, the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA) is the sole national association representing all segments of the 1.9 million-employee U.S. lodging industry, including hotel owners, REITs, chains, franchisees, management companies, independent properties, state hotel associations, and industry suppliers. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., AH&LA provides focused advocacy, communications support, and educational resources for an industry of more than 53,000 properties generating $176 billion in annual sales from 5 million guestrooms.