Legal Question in Discrimination Law in United States

Maribel, I admire your gumption and ingenuity in making the best of a difficult time, and I hope this answer will help. The answer is "yes," you can generally use the restroom facilities as an "implied invitee" of the hotel premises. You are a member of the public, and the common guest areas are an invitation to the public, particularly if there are cafe and shop facilities located within the hotel premises that are used by non-paying guests. Your question is stated as a "United States" question, but the laws governing access to public facilities are generally local. That is, local building codes, with State, County and City codes applying. Still, there is a U.S. organization, the American Restroom Association (ARA), which represents the U.S. in the World Toilet Organization.

But as I am a discrimination attorney, and you have asked a discrimination question, the issue focuses not on homelessness per se, but whether you are in a "protected category." Those categories do not include homelessness, but if the hotel excluded you because you had a disability, or because of your race, gender, sexual orientation, age, religion or national origin, your particular state of residency might have laws similar to California's. Our law, the Unruh Civil Rights Act, prohibits businesses from discriminating against patrons or customers who are in such categories. So, you're on the right track. If non-paying guests are impliedly welcomed into the lobby and common areas of the hotel, and if they are allowed access to public restrooms, and you are perceived to have a disability (physical or mental) which becomes the unspoken but operative basis for excluding your use, you may have a federal A.D.A. case. Or perhaps those scantily dressed youngsters you describe are being given preferential treatment because of age, and your state has a similar civil rights law prohibiting businesses from excluding customers because of age.

Now, getting a lawyer is not the only solution. It may be that you can connect with a local organization that advocates for the homeless to assist you, or you may, with their help, connect with a local news organization that may want to do a story on this pervasive issue of hostility toward the homeless. The unwanted attention could induce the hotel to make a change in policy. Keep up your spirits, and stay safe.

The bottom line is that businesses can ask that you leave, and remain off the property. Businesses and individuals are generally free to make decisions about their businesses are property based on just about any factor they wish (ie, "discrimination") and it is legal. Only a very few categories are not lawful, and you do not raise one. I really doubt you will get much bad press for a business for something like this, and I would suggest your efforts are better spent elsewhere. On a more important note (for me anyway), I certainly hope you are able to pick yourself out of this current situation and make a better life for yourself. If others want to start trouble at a hotel, let others deal with it. Hopefully there are shelters and other places in your area you can go.