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Pasadena hotel price-gouged wildfire evacuees, lawsuit says
Langham Huntington Pasadena has agreed to pay over $536,000 ($320,000 in penalties and at least $216,795 in guest refunds) to settle a lawsuit accusing the hotel of price-gouging during the January 2025 wildfire emergency.
PASADENA, Calif. - Langham Hotels Pacific Corp. has agreed to pay $320,000 to settle a civil consumer protection lawsuit accusing the company of price-gouging guests at its Pasadena hotel.
The allegations state the hotel increased rates unlawfully during the emergency state triggered by the devastating January 2025 Palisades and Eaton wildfires.
What we know:
Under the terms of the settlement, Langham Hotels Pacific Corp. will pay $320,000 to resolve the civil consumer protection lawsuit.
While the company cooperated with the investigation and did not admit liability, it is required to issue refunds to eligible guests who stayed at the Pasadena hotel between Jan. 7, 2025, and March 29, 2026, for all amounts paid above the maximum allowable hotel rate.
The total refund amount is estimated at nearly $217,000 between January 2025 and April 2025 alone, and any refund amounts that remain undeliverable after reasonable locating efforts must be paid to the county's Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.
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18 months since the Eaton Fire
A year and a half since the Eaton Fire, Altadena is slowly building back. But just like in the Palisades, there's still so much more work to be done.
The lawsuit, jointly filed by the District Attorney's Office and the Los Angeles County Counsel's Office, alleged that Langham violated the state's anti-price-gouging law by charging guests more than 10% above the hotel's regular rates as advertised immediately prior to the emergency declaration.
To prevent future violations, the settlement mandates that Langham modify its automated, algorithmic, or other pricing systems to ensure that room prices are not unlawfully increased during any declared state of emergency.
What we don't know:
The exact number of individual guests who are eligible to receive restitution under this settlement is unknown.
What's next:
Langham will begin taking steps to locate and refund eligible guests who were overcharged during the designated state of emergency window. The company will also implement the required updates to its algorithmic and automated pricing systems to ensure compliance with emergency price-gouging laws moving forward.
The Source: This article is based on public civil lawsuit filings and official statements released on Monday by the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. City News Service contributed.