Most people will pass a hotel and not think twice about what’s happening inside. But for me, and many other survivors, hotels are constant reminders of the suffering we’ve endured. I was trafficked and sold into prostitution at the age of 12. I wasn’t simply a hotel guest — but rather a vulnerable underage child, shuffled from one hotel to the next by men who saw me as nothing more than a body to be sold and abused. Inside hotel rooms across our city lies a dark underworld where thousands of people, many of them children like I was, are exploited every day. The Safe Hotels Act can help put a stop to this. Sex trafficking is a pervasive issue in New York City, with as many as 3,000 people — mostly women, children, immigrants and people of color — falling victim to the sex trade and trapped in hotel rooms. Traffickers have long exploited the anonymity and lack of oversight in hotels, allowing their crimes to go unchecked and their business to flourish. Lawsuits against hotel owners and operators in recent years have begun to shine a light on this criminal enterprise. Across the nation, thousands of those affected have filed lawsuits against owners and operators for enabling their facilities to be used in the sex trade. One lawsuit by a survivor against a Queens hotel, paints a grim picture of how some hotel operators may even conspire with traffickers to facilitate the sex trade within their facilities. The survivor in this case alleges that the hotel owners/operators were fully aware of the abuse she was subjected to within their hotel. The Safe Hotels Act, currently under consideration by the New York City Council, promises to close the loopholes that have allowed sex traffickers and unscrupulous hotel operators to evade accountability. This legislation would mandate that hotels implement rigorous anti-trafficking protocols, including mandatory training for key staff and panic buttons for employees to discreetly report danger. Central to the Safe Hotels Act is a new licensing requirement that will empower city officials to revoke a hotel’s license and shut it down when trafficking is detected. This provision addresses a significant gap that has enabled bad actors in the hotel industry to continue operating despite known incidents of trafficking. But the bill offers so much more. From mandating on-site security for hotels of a certain size to banning short-term bookings at motels (excluding airport hotels), the Safe Hotels Act promises a stronger regulatory framework which is needed to combat human trafficking in our city’s hotels. Some critics have argued that the Safe Hotels Act could lead to hotel closures. This may be true. But only the hotels that exploit lax regulations and enable the exploitation of women and children will shut down forever. The majority of hotel owners would not tolerate trafficking to occur within their facilities. As a survivor, I know the difference that vigilance and intervention can make. If just one hotel employee had recognized the signs and acted, my story — and the stories of countless others — might have been different. Allow me to be clear, I am not against the hotel business, nor do I seek to strip hotel guests of their prerogative to do as they please during their stay, but hotel operators have a responsibility to ensure that all of their guests remain safe, including the young ones like me that should have never been there in the first place. The Safe Hotels Act will not only protect hotel workers, but also provide them with the training and resources they need to identify and respond to human trafficking. By taking the power out of the hands of traffickers and their enablers, the Safe Hotels Act has the potential to weed out exploitation in hotels and prevent sex trafficking. No one should ever have to tell a story like mine. Let’s pass the Safe Hotels Act to save lives and demonstrate that New York City is a leader in the fight against human trafficking. Thompson, a sex trafficking survivor leader, is a speaker, activist, and global leader in the fight against commercial sexual exploitation. She serves as the outreach & advocacy coordinator for the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women.