Cheap rooms, rampant crime: Inside the controversy over Baton Rouge’s Oyo Hotels | News

The names, paint jobs and décor of a handful of budget hotels across Baton Rouge have modified over time, with facades that used to promote a Calloway Inn and a Magnuson Lodge now studying “OYO.”

However no rebrand or adorning scheme has fastened a slew of underlying problems at the properties, which city-parish knowledge exhibits have been riddled with crime and emergency calls for paramedics for no less than the previous 5 years.

Information from 2017 exhibits that two motels at 9999 Gwenadele Drive and 10920 Mead Highway — each of which now bear the Oyo model — fell among the many worst offenders on a listing of city-parish motels with probably the most 911 calls. The Gwenadele property logged 130 calls that yr, whereas the Mead location clocked 115.

Since then, the problems have only worsened: The Oyo on Gwenadele has had 523 calls to 911 because the begin of 2021 — a couple of per day, Baton Rouge Police Division data present. The Mead location has logged 347.

Rajesh N. Patel, the person who owns these motels and eight others within the Baton Rouge space, acknowledges the dire state of affairs. He attributes the issue to COVID-driven workers shortages, a lot of homeless individuals searching for shelter and a company mandate that at one time dropped room charges to as little as $14 per night time.

Whereas a current killing on the Oyo on Gwenadele targeted the highlight on Patel’s enterprise particularly, it additionally revealed a startling truth — that regardless of an ordinance passed in 2018 to deal with widespread crime issues at funds motels, East Baton Rouge Parish officers haven’t used it even as soon as towards any of the roughly 70 properties out of compliance.

And a few individuals who rely on such lodgings really feel like they’re compelled to decide on between cash and security.

“I’m purchasing for the most affordable value, however typically the most affordable value ain’t all the time good for you,” mentioned Allen McPherson as he sat outdoors of the Oyo on Mead this week.

McPherson, 44, misplaced his house in Lake Charles during Hurricane Laura and mentioned he’s been bouncing round Baton Rouge motels since then.

He described staying on the Oyos on each Mead and Gwenadele, and mentioned he’s witnessed robberies, medication, prostitution and assaults. He mentioned he’s known as the police to each motels greater than as soon as, regardless of lodge workers discouraging him from doing so — together with as soon as when he noticed a person beating a lady within the car parking zone.

“It’s a dog-eat-dog world over there,” he mentioned. “It’s like jail. The police go however they’ll’t cease something. There’s solely a lot they’ll do with out cooperation.”

Authorized troubles mount for Patel

Patel has full or partial possession of no less than 10 motels in Baton Rouge, Denham Springs, Donaldsonville, Gonzales and Port Allen, together with a number of Oyo franchises, a Tremendous 6 and Cajun Nation Inn.

His enterprise ventures prolong past Louisiana: In response to a 2020 federal lawsuit that alleged he was failing to pay a desk clerk additional time, he argued he had not been correctly served with the swimsuit whereas he was checking on a rehabilitation facility in Palm Springs, California, and one other facility in Boston, Massachusetts, that he has curiosity in. The worker later voluntarily dismissed the swimsuit.

Complaints of violence at his properties have dogged Patel’s two Baton Rouge Oyo motels. Metropolis-parish Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Gissel mentioned he, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome, District Lawyer Hillar Moore III and Police Chief Murphy Paul met with Patel on April 26 after the outcry over the deadly taking pictures at Oyo, which left 32-year-old Jaci Bergeron dead. And after The Advocate reported that the 2018 motel ordinance hasn’t been enforced, a Metro Council member known as a gathering for later this week with metropolis leaders and the city-parish allowing workplace to give you a plan of motion.

As scrutiny mounts over the violence on Gwenadele, Patel — who was as soon as praised for offering free hotel rooms to well being care staff through the pandemic — has different issues on his arms.

Courtroom filings in East Baton Rouge Parish present that two banks, Investar and First Warranty Financial institution, are attempting to grab his properties — together with some motels and his house in a Denham Springs subdivision — over his alleged failure to pay again $7 million in loans. An legal professional for First Warranty Financial institution declined to remark, and an legal professional for Investar didn’t return messages. Patel says he has reached an settlement with First Warranty.

In the meantime, he’s additionally being sued by Motel 6. The national motel chain alleges in three separate complaints filed in East and West Baton Rouge Parish courts that Patel owes them greater than $600,000 from contracts he signed over time to model three of his Baton Rouge-area properties — the Mead and Gwenadele motels, plus one in Denham Springs — underneath the Motel 6 identify. Telephone calls to Motel 6 and the Opelousas regulation agency representing the corporate, Sandoz Regulation Workplaces, weren’t returned.

“These fits are an ongoing battle between the franchise and the motels as a result of I terminated the agreements as a result of lack of reservation contribution from the model, which they promised when signing the franchise agreements,” Patel mentioned. His motels on Gwenadele and Mead Highway in Baton Rouge and West Speeding Highway in Denham Springs every now bear the Oyo identify, together with three different motels within the capital area which he owns.

Whereas Patel acknowledged the depth of the problems at his Gwenadele property, he says the lodge’s possession and staff will not be alone guilty.

Over the previous two years, crippling workers shortages attributable to COVID have made managing the property troublesome, he mentioned. Harmful climate occasions like Hurricane Ida and flooding final spring posed additional challenges. Patel mentioned he and his spouse have needed to work on the properties — folding towels at a few of their motels.

“It’s robust for us to watch all people, on a regular basis, 24/7,” he mentioned.

However he additionally targeted on a push by Oyo’s company management to promote rooms at rock-bottom prices. With charges that low, the Gwenadele lodge began seeing much more crime and security complaints, he defined.

“When you could have such low charges, you’re going to draw shoppers that you do not need staying at your lodge,” he mentioned. “The largest concern was (Oyo’s) fundamental goal was to develop their model. Their goal was to extend their occupancy.”

The lodge advertises its Gwenadele location as a “fashionable keep possibility” with “elegant furnishings,” an in-house restaurant and “stylish” bogs. The Mead location, its website says, is a “wanted lodging possibility” that’s situated close to sufficient facilities for these searching for “leisure in addition to recreation.”

Oyo grew out of India, the place entrepreneur Ritesh Agarwal launched the chain in 2013 underneath the “Oyo” identify, which is shorthand for “by yourself.” It has quickly expanded throughout the U.S. since 2019, cultivating an active social media presence the place the model muses largely in regards to the joys of leaving work for a trip.

Oyo’s company workplaces in Dallas didn’t return messages for this story.

How Oyo operates

Oyo’s enterprise mannequin has drawn criticism from some lodge homeowners elsewhere within the nation. These critics decry what they describe as Oyo’s behavior of adjusting room charges with out the enter from the homeowners.

Oyo’s mannequin varies sharply from that of a “conventional lodge firm,” in accordance with Bob Rauch, a lodge proprietor and hospitality trade skilled primarily based in California.

Most mainstream lodge corporations arrange reserving providers, present facilities and implement high quality requirements at motels that use their manufacturers. However Oyo prices lodge operators for what quantities to little greater than a reserving service, Rauch mentioned. The corporate reserves rooms for friends — normally at a few of the lowest costs available on the market — whereas letting the amenities’ homeowners function as they please, Rauch defined.

“They’re not an Airbnb or a short-term rental,” Rauch mentioned, referring to the corporate that lets householders and buyers lease rooms or entire properties and flats to vacationers. “However they’re additionally not a conventional lodge firm.”

In Baton Rouge, city-parish officers say an apparent lack of standards and oversight for Oyo properties is likely one of the elements permitting crime to proliferate there.

“In case you get thrown out underneath a number of completely different names, Oyo appears to be a final resort,” mentioned Gissel, the city-parish chief administrative officer.

Crime and security complaints at Oyo motels belonging to Patel will not be distinctive to East Baton Rouge. Patel owns a complete of six Oyo amenities within the area — two in Port Allen, one in Donaldsonville and one in Denham Springs, plus the 2 in Baton Rouge. The Donaldsonville Oyo, in accordance with Ascension Parish Sheriff Bobby Webre, is among the many motels with the best variety of calls to regulation enforcement within the sheriff’s response space.

Webre thinks the low costs and obvious lack of oversight by administration are guilty for that development.

“It is only a unhealthy administration mannequin, so far as I am involved,” he mentioned.

Issues outdoors of Baton Rouge

Moore, the district legal professional, is reviewing calls to police from the Gwenadele Oyo up to now 5 years to see if the property needs to be declared a nuisance underneath Louisiana regulation, he mentioned this week. Dwellings or companies the place a sure variety of crimes happen, akin to a violence-plagued LSU apartment complex, can face shut-down underneath the rule.

Patel’s properties aren’t the one ones with excessive requires service — a number of funds motels in Baton Rouge have similar problems. Whereas Patel owns two Baton Rouge Oyos, there’s a 3rd subsequent door to his Gwenadele web site known as “Oyo Lodge midcity” that he doesn’t personal. That web site, a former Days Inn at 10045 Gwenadele, was one other prime offender within the 2017 rankings.

Patel’s motels outdoors of Baton Rouge get combined opinions from regulation enforcement and clients.

“We’ve points with all of our motels — drug points, prostitution points,” mentioned Main Zack Simmers of the West Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Division. “I’m not going to single out the Oyo.”

Webre, although, mentioned his division fields calls from the Oyo Townhouses in Donaldsonville, a blue constructing simply previous the Sunshine Bridge on LA-70, extra steadily than most different motels within the space. Drug-related calls are frequent, he mentioned. As soon as, deputies booked a lodge worker for theft after a vendor on the town for an area gun and knife present reported a few of his wares stolen. And final July, deputies had been known as to analyze a murder caught on safety footage that occurred in one of many Oyo’s hallways.

The murder was a results of a combat between two individuals who had been beforehand banned from the lodge, Patel mentioned.

Jeremy Rester, a journey building employee who’s stayed at an Oyo on La. 1 in Port Allen for a number of months, mentioned the lodge was quiet and clear, and that he’d by no means seen crime occur there.

“This isn’t your 5-star lodge, nevertheless it’s not unhealthy,” Rester mentioned.

Patel can be partial proprietor of a second Port Allen Oyo on South Lobdell Freeway, however a entrance desk clerk there assured guests that it was nothing like those throughout the river.

A visitor there, Felicia Franks, mentioned she was fearful about staying on the Oyo after listening to in regards to the taking pictures in Baton Rouge, however added that she’d had no issues and loved barbecuing by the pool with different friends.

“They don’t let the nonsense go on right here,” she mentioned.

Different hoteliers push for extra oversight

Patel mentioned he may use extra assist from the city-parish to curb crime at his properties. He mentioned he just lately requested BRPD to assign an extra-duty officer to the Gwenadele location and has been procuring round for safety corporations to watch that property.

“I’m not saying there aren’t any issues,” he mentioned. “The issues are there. However on the similar time, once I met with the authorities, I needed to ask them for assist.”

Different lodge operators in Baton Rouge say they supported the 2018 ordinance to vary hotel licensing in East Baton Rouge Parish in hopes that lodge friends would have higher experiences and the trade’s repute as an entire would enhance. The ordinance mentioned that motels and motels must be permitted by way of Metropolis Corridor, and that allows might be revoked or suspended when a lodge “negatively impacts the well being, security and welfare of its visitor.”

The ordinance inspired lodge managers and workers to report crime to regulation enforcement, saying they’d not be punished if the lodge workers reported crimes themselves.

However in any other case, motels might be fined and even shut down for racking up three or extra felony arrests for drug or prostitution incidents inside 90 days. The regulation mentioned motels may lose their permits for having 5 or extra calls to regulation enforcement inside 30 legal guidelines reporting criminality on their property.

Lodge managers who say they’ve complied with the regulation say it’s unfair that others haven’t executed the identical.

Gary Jupiter, president of the Baton Rouge Lodging Association, mentioned lodge homeowners mustn’t flip a blind eye to what’s occurring on their properties. However he mentioned metropolis officers must step in as nicely.

“The town has to carry that proprietor or operator accountable,” Jupiter mentioned. “The ordinance clearly states that after sure occurrences, you run the chance of shedding your occupancy license. But when nobody’s afraid of shedding that licensing, it’s laborious for that ordinance to hold the burden that it’s alleged to.”

Ben Blackwell, the board chairman for the Louisiana Lodge and Lodging Affiliation, mentioned it’s been irritating to see the dearth of accountability.

“That’s why we did this: so that everybody can be held to the identical requirements,” Blackwell mentioned. “It’s very irritating for the motels that aren’t complying as a result of we wish to see a greater lodging trade in Baton Rouge and within the state usually.”