Hotels & Lodging · Economy motel chain (franchisor) · Regulatory action + Private litigation + Data breach
G6 Hospitality (Motel 6 / Studio 6)
Headline
Motel 6 properties handed guest registry lists to immigration enforcement without a warrant or subpoena — in some cases as a daily routine…
Motel 6 properties handed guest registry lists to immigration enforcement without a warrant or subpoena — in some cases as a daily routine — and Washington State's Attorney General secured a $12 million settlement over it, with a separate federal class settlement of up to $7.6 million (Arizona, 2018) resolving related claims. No hacker, no breach, no technical failure: a front desk printed the list of who was sleeping there and gave it away. It is the clearest case in this entire tracker of the gap between what a privacy policy says and what a night clerk does, and the affected population was selected precisely for its inability to respond.
- Severity
- Evidence tierUnassigned
- Claims confirmed
- Last verified2026-08-04
Primary source. www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-motel-6-will-pay-12m-violating-privacy-tens-thousands-washingtonians — Verified - primary source confirmed.
Terms
Arbitration
Not confirmed this pass.
Data sharing
CONFIRMED REGULATORY HISTORY: Motel 6 locations were found to have provided guest lists to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement without warrants or subpoenas. Washington State's Attorney General obtained a $12 million settlement in 2019, and a separate federal class settlement of up to $7.6 million (D. Ariz., 2018, brought by MALDEF on behalf of Latino guests) resolved related claims. Guest registry data was handed over daily at some properties.
Fees and billing
Economy segment; the documented harm here is disclosure rather than fees.
Contacts
Privacy contact. Not recorded.
Legal notice. Not verified this pass. If publicly traded: SEC Form 10-K cover page gives the official corporate address; the Secretary of State business-entity search in the state of incorporation gives the registered agent, which must accept service. If private: the state registered agent is usually the only reliable route.
Mailing address. Not recorded.
Evidence
| Claim | Kind | Support | Sources |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Motel 6 locations handed guest lists to immigration enforcement without a warrant. | fact | supported | none recorded |
| 2. This practice applied to Motel 6 properties generally. | fact | unsupported | none recorded |
| 3. The lists were handed over without a subpoena. | fact | unsupported | none recorded |
| 4. In some cases this was a daily routine. | fact | supported | none recorded |
| 5. Washington's Attorney General secured a $12 million settlement. | fact | supported | none recorded |
| 6. A separate $7.6 million federal class settlement resolved related claims. | fact | unsupported | 1 (0 confirmed) |
| 7. No hacker or technical failure was involved: front desks printed the guest list and gave it away. | fact | supported | none recorded |
| 8. It is the clearest case in this tracker of the gap between privacy policy and what a night clerk does; the population was selected for its inability to respond. | characterization | n/a | none recorded |
0 of 8 claims have a confirmed source of their own.
Sources
| Source | Claim | Tier | Status | Quote |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| none | Claim 6 | Unassigned | not found | No quote recorded. Quote basis: not recorded. |
Source vault
Link status: Candidate - not yet fetched
| Document | Last fetch | |
|---|---|---|
| Privacy policy https://www.motel6.com/en/privacy-policy.html | Not fetched yet | N |
| Terms of service https://www.motel6.com/en/terms-of-use.html | Not fetched yet | N |
| Website No URL recorded | Not fetched yet | — |
| Primary source https://www.atg.wa.gov/news/news-releases/ag-ferguson-motel-6-will-pay-12m-violating-privacy-tens-thousands-washingtonians Verification: Verified - primary source confirmed | Not fetched yet | — |
Enforcement
No enforcement actions are linked to this row.
State statute
No HQ state on file, so no state statute applies by headquarters.