A class action lawsuit has been filed against a prominent hospitality company, alleging violations of privacy laws. The complaint was lodged by Phillip Clarin in the Superior Court of California, County of Santa Clara, on February 28, 2025, targeting Proper Hospitality, LLC. Clarin accuses the hotel chain of unlawfully intercepting and sharing sensitive customer data with Meta Platforms, Inc., without user consent.
The case revolves around allegations that Proper Hospitality employed tracking technology on its website to share customers' private information with Meta (formerly Facebook). This includes details such as names, travel itineraries, and personal identifiers collected when users booked stays at the company's hotels via their website. According to the complaint, this practice violates the California Invasion of Privacy Act (CIPA) and California Civil Code § 53.5 which protects "guest records" from unauthorized disclosure. Clarin claims that while booking a stay at Proper Hospitality's San Francisco location in May 2024, his confidential data was intercepted and shared with Meta through a tracking pixel embedded in the website.
The lawsuit highlights that Proper Hospitality allegedly aided Meta in capturing these communications in real-time as users interacted with their site. The plaintiff argues that this unauthorized interception occurred without explicit consent from users, thus breaching state privacy laws designed to protect consumer data from such practices. Clarin's legal team contends that these actions were not only invasive but also an egregious breach of trust between consumers and service providers.
Clarin seeks various forms of relief from the court including statutory damages amounting to $5,000 per violation for each affected individual under CIPA provisions. Additionally, he requests injunctive relief to prevent further unauthorized disclosures by Proper Hospitality and demands punitive damages sufficient to deter similar conduct in the future. The lawsuit aims to certify a class comprising all Californian Facebook account holders who booked travel through Proper Hospitality’s website during the specified period.
Representing Phillip Clarin are attorneys Sarah N. Westcot and Stephen A. Beck from Bursor & Fisher, P.A., based in Miami. The case is presided over by judges at the Superior Court of California under Case No. 29CV460058.