Brooklyn Center City Leaders Discuss ‘Many Items of Concern’ at Hotel
Brooklyn Center city leaders are monitoring what’s described as an “evolving situation” of concern at the Travelodge by Wyndham Brooklyn Center hotel.
At its Feb. 9 city council meeting, Brooklyn Center Fire Chief Todd Berg pointed out numerous problems or code violations discovered during inspections by city staff and Hennepin County inspectors.
Those issues included fire doors that couldn’t shut completely, non-working heaters, sanitary concerns and unregistered guests, Berg said.
The Brooklyn Center Fire Department conducts an annual inspection at every hotel in the city, but may visit more frequently if issues arise.
Berg said one recent issue at the Travelodge was a frozen sprinkler pipe that did get repaired.
After visiting the hotel on Jan. 29, Berg described for the council the issues he saw as he toured common areas of the building.
“Dried vomit and blood splatter were on the walls in the stairwell,” Berg told the city council. “Probably one of the biggest problems is none of their exterior doors lock. Two of them don’t even close all the way.”
The fire chief also noted hotel management removing three unregistered guests during the time he was there.
Berg said management told him they tried to fix the doors in the past.
“Within days, they are damaged by their guests so that they can allow access to others in and out of the hotel bypassing the front desk,” Berg said.
Brooklyn Center Fire Chief Todd Berg gives update to city council at Feb. 9 meeting.
Police Calls for Service
City officials also discussed the inordinate number of calls for service at the Travelodge involving both the police and fire departments.
Berg said his firefighters had been at the Travelodge nine times in last 30 days for a variety of reasons, include one for a heart attack call and four CPR medical emergencies.
The police department also responded to 102 calls for service at the Travelodge from Jan. 9 through Feb. 6, Berg said.
Of those, seven calls were for drug overdoses, two of which were fatal. Another led to the arrest of a carjacking suspect.
Later in the meeting, Brooklyn Center City Clerk Shannon Petit pointed out how police resources have been impacted by hotels citywide.
From October 2024 to October 2025, there were 2,781 calls for service at Brooklyn Center hotels, according to city police statistics.
For comparison, it was about half the number of calls to apartments — 1,356 calls for service — in that same time frame.
The most frequent calls to hotels were for unwanted persons, 911 hangups, disturbances and welfare checks. There have also been 66 drug overdose calls at hotels in the last two years.
That means 24 percent of all drug overdose calls during that time period were tied to a hotel property, Petit said.
According to city data, there are 1,081 hotel rooms and 1,088 apartments in Brooklyn Center.
What Next?
There are options on the table, including the possibility of Hennepin County suspending the hotel’s food and lodging license until issues are corrected.
Hennepin County’s concerns is a lack of guest registry, trafficking training for employees, overall cleaning and sanitation, and the lack of exterior door control, Berg said.
“The hotel has done a bunch of work over the last couple weeks to clean up, but there is a high concern by city staff we will wind up being right back where it was a few weeks ago after these annual inspections are complete,” said Berg.
“It’s very concerning to me,” said Brooklyn Center City Council Member Teneshia Kragness.
CCX News reached out to Wyndham Hotels and Resorts corporate for comment but did not immediately hear back.
See also: ‘Something’s Probably Going to Give’: Brooklyn Center Hotel Owners Look to Offload Properties
