Red Roof Inn manager joked about 'pimps and hookers' as sex trafficking rampant at hotels, lawsuit claims

A tasteless joke made by a senior regional manager at the Red Roof Inn about “pimps and whores” has become a key piece of evidence against the hotel chain in a landmark sex trafficking trial in Atlanta.

Red Roof Inn, one of the nation's largest budget hotel chains, is facing dozens of lawsuits from sex trafficking victims who accuse the company of ignoring obvious signs of abuse at its hotels.

One of those complaints, filed by 11 women who said they were trafficked at two Red Roof Inn hotels in Atlanta, included an email from a regional vice president of operations who joked that “my pimps and whores love to have snacks to go with their cigarettes.”

Jay Moyer, the manager of two Atlanta hotels at the center of the lawsuit, joked about improvements at one of the hotels. In a deposition, he said he may have been quoting a guest comment.

But lawyers representing the plaintiffs said it nonetheless proved the company was aware that the hotel “regularly rented rooms to alleged prostitutes and pimps.”

It became a key piece of evidence in the trial, which sought to show that the company knew about sex trafficking at the Red Roof Inn and did nothing to stop it.

Red Roof Inn said in a statement that it “denies all allegations” in the Atlanta lawsuit and “condemns prostitution and sex trafficking in all its forms.” It also said it has “taken steps to mitigate criminal activity at Red Roof properties,” without elaborating.

Red Roof Inn settled its case with the plaintiffs eight days after the trial began last month, but it faces dozens of similar lawsuits from sex trafficking victims alleging the same thing.

A survey conducted by The Independent According to the investigation, at least 42 federal lawsuits are pending against the hotel chain and its franchisees. Hundreds of other victims are in the process of filing lawsuits, according to attorneys working on their cases.

The lawsuits, as well as cases yet to be filed, span the length and breadth of the country, across 39 states and at least 115 Red Roof Inn hotels.

The plaintiffs filed their complaints under a 2008 law that allows victims of sex trafficking to seek civil damages against any entity or individual who knowingly profited from trafficking activities.

The victims, some of whom were minors at the time, accuse the company of allowing its rooms to be rented on a large scale to sex traffickers who forced them into prostitution. commercial sex work and controlled almost every aspect of their lives.

If you or someone you know is a victim of human trafficking and needs help, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline by calling 1-888-373-7888, texting 233733, or online via web chat athumantraffickinghotline.orgThe hotline is available 24/7 and help is available in 200 languages. All calls are confidential.

If you have any information regarding this story or other trafficking cases that you would like to share, please contact [email protected]