Long-stay guests put pressure on hotels with review pressure and tenant status

Hotels face new problems when working with long-term guests: some guests turn loyalty into a review-pressure tool and demand additional concessions, while others effectively become legal tenants.

A 2024 study showed that cases of extracting concessions through negative reviews have increased.

An early example was the Union Street Guest House in Hudson, New York, in 2014: the hotel came under harsh criticism after attempting to charge guests who wrote negative reviews a $500 fine.

In cases of long-term stays, however, a guest can acquire the status of an actual tenant; there was a court case regarding this in Georgia in 2022.

The source's recommendation is as follows: hotels should establish a clear policy in advance so that loyalty does not turn into a pressure tool.