Council cracks down on no-tell motels

There'll be no more combining business with pleasure in Houston motels since City Council approved a ban on knowingly renting motel rooms to prostitutes or their customers. The city ordinance will enable undercover vice officers to crack down on "hot sheet" motels — those that depend on prostitution to stay in business.

The new rules make it a crime for motel clerks — some of whom offer hourly rates — knowingly to rent rooms for prostitution. The council passed the measure unanimously, after some debate about whether the ordinance unfairly would require motel owners to intuit their customers' intentions.

"This gives us an opportunity for us to go in there and tell them to clean up their act," said Houston police Capt. Steve Jett, head of HPD's vice division.

"I've had motel clerks literally tell me, 'If I didn't rent to them (prostitutes), I'd be out of business.' That's what we want to do: We want to put them out of business."

Councilmembers raised some questions earlier this month, and again during Wednesday's Council meeting, about how enforceable the law really is — they were especially concerned that motel clerks could be held responsible for prostitution they didn't know about. Jett said officers will have to prove in court that clerks knew about the business at hand, which they could do by posing as prostitution customers or motel guests.

Violations of the ordinance will carry fines of up to $2,000 in municipal court, but the ban applies to motels only — apartments or condos in which renters stay for more than 27 consecutive days are exempted. Does this mean we'll see a move toward "hot sheet" apartments?