Langham Hotels Pacific Corporation will pay $320,000 to settle a civil lawsuit alleging the company illegally raised room rates at its Pasadena property during the January 2025 wildfires, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced Monday, July 13. The company must also refund at least $216,795 to guests who were overcharged.

The settlement appears to be the first resolved hotel price gouging case from the wildfire emergency, based on DA office announcements. It establishes a concrete enforcement benchmark for luxury properties across Los Angeles County.

What Langham did

According to a stipulated judgment entered Saturday, July 11, the company "had an automated pricing system in place, but a cap on price increases was not immediately implemented resulting in hotel guests being charged prices in excess of those allowed."

The overcharges at the 379-room Langham Huntington Pasadena occurred between January 7, 2025, and at least April 2025. The $216,795 restitution figure covers that window alone; the settlement requires refunds for eligible guests who stayed through March 29, 2026, when the county's hotel price gouging protections expired.

Langham cooperated with the investigation and did not admit liability. Going forward, the company must modify its automated and algorithmic pricing systems to prevent unlawful rate increases during any future declared emergency.

The penalty breaks down as $300,000 in civil fines and $20,000 in investigative costs. Any refunds that remain undeliverable after reasonable efforts will be paid to the LA County Department of Consumer and Business Affairs.

Enforcement wave

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said his office has worked closely with law enforcement and consumer agency partners to combat price gouging since the fires, calling the outcome "an important victory for wildfire victims."

The county's Department of Consumer and Business Affairs received more than 2,000 complaints after the wildfires and sent more than 2,000 cease-and-desist letters. Separate from the Langham case, L.A. City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto won $1.2 million in restitution from home rental company Blueground earlier in 2026, and her office's lawsuit against Airbnb over alleged gouging on more than 2,600 properties survived a motion to dismiss on Tuesday, July 1.

Head Deputy District Attorney Alex Karkanen and Assistant Head Deputy District Attorney Steven Wang of the Consumer Protection Division prosecuted the case, filed as civil case number 26STCV18042.

Local relevance

Beverly Hills hotels operate under the same California Penal Code Section 396, which caps rate increases at 10% above pre-emergency prices once a state of emergency is declared. The Beverly Hills City Council reinforced that prohibition in January 2025 with a unanimously approved urgency ordinance covering hotel rooms and short-term rentals. No public complaints or investigations against local hotels have surfaced in connection with the January 2025 emergency.

The emergency-era protections have since expired, but any future state of emergency declaration by the governor would immediately re-trigger the 10% cap for every hotel in Los Angeles County.