Mondrian South Beach Hotel Operators Charge Improper Automatic Gratuities, Lawsuit Says

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action lawsuit has been filed in Florida against SBE ENT Holdings, LLC, Morgans Hotels Group Co. LLC and three other entities over allegations that guests who stayed in the defendants’ Mondrian South Beach Hotel in Miami within the last four years were charged improper gratuities, service charges, or other fees in violation of state and local laws.

At issue in the complaint is the defendants’ alleged practice of failing to provide legally required, conspicuously posted notice on restaurant menus and the face of bills given to patrons that a tip or service charge is automatically added to their bill. From the complaint:

[The defendants] violate Miami-Dade County law at the restaurants in the Hotel by failing to conspicuously post the required notice on a sign in the restaurant or written legibly on the restaurant menus or price listing in the same form and manner as the other items on the menu or price listing, whether the business includes an automatic gratuity or service charge in the bill, and if so, the amount or method of calculation of the automatic charge.”

Moreover, the case claims the defendants—which include Morgans Hotel Group Management, LLC; 1100 West Investments Holdings, LLC; and 1100 West Investments, LLC—improperly charge tax on gratuities automatically added to customers’ bills.

The lawsuit looks to cover a class of consumers who made purchases at a “restaurant, bar, mini-bar, lounge, poolside dining area, in-room dining and/or other public food service establishment” at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel for which automatic gratuity was supposedly charged.