SLS Hotel of Beverly Hills Withdrew Money from Customers’ Accounts Without Authorization, Class Action Alleges

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A proposed class action alleges SLS Hotel of Beverly Hills has breached its contracts with customers by advising them during check-in that a hold would be placed on their payment cards before then withdrawing money directly from their accounts and keeping the interest for itself.

According to the 12-page case, defendants Marriott International, Inc. and SLS Hotel have violated California law by misrepresenting the nature of the purported holds on customers’ payment cards. The lawsuit says that customers whose funds were unlawfully withdrawn by the defendants have suffered economic loss in the form of lost interest that they would have earned had the money remained in their accounts.

The plaintiff, a California resident who stayed at the SLS Hotel for four nights in late December 2020 and January 2021, claims that an attendant advised him upon checking in that a credit or debit card would be required for “incidentals” during his stay. According to the suit, although the attendant represented that a hold would be placed on the plaintiff’s debit card, the hotel instead deducted $300.00 directly from the checking account linked to his card.

Per the case, the plaintiff spent $23.00 on miscellaneous items and $55.00 on parking during his stay at the SLS Hotel. After the man checked out on January 4, 2021, the SLS Hotel charged his debit card $78.00 in incidentals and returned the $300.00 withdrawn from his account, the suit relays. The hotel did not, however, return the interest that accrued on the plaintiff’s $300.00 between December 31 and January 4, the lawsuit argues.

According to the case, nothing in the defendants’ digital entry terms-of-use contract authorizes the hotel to withdraw money from customers’ accounts or retain the interest from the withdrawn funds.

“As a result of this conduct, Defendants have profited from retaining the interest on the money withdrawn by Defendants,” the complaint states.

The lawsuit looks to represent anyone who, from January 4, 2018 to the present, paid for a hotel room at the SLS Hotel, used a debit card for incidentals, had money withdrawn from their account for incidentals and was not returned the interest that accrued on the debited amount.

The case also looks to cover anyone who fits the aforementioned criteria and was also told by the SLS Hotel that a hold would be placed on their card for incidentals. 

Initially filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court on January 4, the lawsuit was removed to California’s Central District Court on March 10, 2022.

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