By Sam Barron | Wednesday, May 20, 2026, 10:06 PM EDT
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass warned that her city might have a shortage of hotel rooms during the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Bass, a Democrat, was speaking at a Politico event where she defended her support for delaying Los Angeles’ planned increase in the minimum wage for hospitality and airport workers to $30 an hour.
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles City Council agreed to postpone the wage increase by 18 months, until after the Olympics. The minimum hourly wage for hospitality and airport workers will still rise in increments until it reaches $30 in 2030, according to a report from the Los Angeles Times.
“You have hotels saying they’re going to close up,” Bass said. “I mean, we don’t have enough hotel space here for the Olympics, and so we do have to think about 2028.”
“You want to pay attention to people’s wages,” Bass added. “On the other hand, you don’t want to go so high that they may limit business.”
A report from Deloitte, commissioned by Airbnb, says hotel space in Los Angeles and neighboring Orange County may be insufficient to accommodate up to 320,000 Olympic visitors.
The council agreed to postpone the minimum wage increase after business leaders threatened a ballot measure to eliminate the city’s gross receipts tax, which if approved would have decimated the city’s coffers. Bass called it “an existential threat to the city budget and the services it supports.”
“This agreement ensures workers are paid fairly and that businesses that create jobs can continue serving L.A. and hiring Angelenos,” Bass said in a statement. The gross receipts tax is Los Angeles’ second-largest revenue stream.
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
