Chicago hotels would be responsible to lock freezers under new plan

CHICAGO, Ill. – A new proposal is requiring Chicago hotels to lock their freezers after the death of a 19-year-old, Kenneka Jenkins.

Under the city’s new plan, hotel employees would need to check the freezers often and restrict people from going to places that are off-limits.

Hotels would need to install signs warning guests to keep out of “non-guest areas,” including kitchens, laundry room, stockrooms, loading docks, unoccupied ballrooms, closed pools and other parts of the facilities under the ordinance, which passed the Finance Committee Tuesday.

Hotels also would need to install alarms or emergency release mechanisms on the exits of off-limits enclosures like freezers where someone could get locked in.

Officials also want to improve hotel safety overall by requiring hotels to have wirelessly, activated panic buttons.