ATLANTA — Red Roof Inn has settled a landmark sex trafficking case mid-trial, resolving allegations by 11 women that they were exploited for years at hotels in Smyrna and Buckhead.

The national hotel chain isn’t disclosing the settlement terms and continues to deny claims that it participated in and benefited from pervasive sex trafficking at its locations on North Druid Hills Road in Buckhead and Corporate Plaza in Smyrna.

“Red Roof will continue to work with industry partners in the fight to eradicate sex trafficking and the exploitation of victims,” the company said in a statement provided to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

The case was the first of its kind to reach trial, after similar cases in Georgia and other states settled before a jury was selected. Red Roof settled Tuesday night after the plaintiffs had finished presenting their evidence and the judge had rejected its request for a ruling in its favor.

Pat McDonough, a lead attorney for the plaintiffs, said it’s the first time that sex trafficking survivors got to publicly present all their evidence against a national hotel brand. He said his clients, who were trafficked between 2009 and 2018, are happy with the settlement, having each had a chance to tell their story in open court.

“They all had their voices heard,” McDonough told the AJC. “They’re pleased this is behind them. This is quite courageous on their part to do it.”

McDonough said the plaintiffs were able to show that Red Roof knew sex trafficking was happening on its properties and allowed it to continue. He said the plaintiffs hope their case will bring about change in the hospitality industry nationwide. Two of the plaintiffs were minors when they were trafficked and others were in their late teens and early twenties, he said.

“One of (Red Roof’s) corporate employees said he saw minor sex trafficking and the vice president told them to move those people to the back (of the hotel) so they could keep taking money from them while they made money from other guests that were complaining about it,” McDonough said. “It went all the way to the top. That’s all in the public record now.”

Red Roof said it “condemns sex trafficking in all forms.”

A former front desk worker at the Buckhead location testified early in the trial that 40% to 50% of the hotel’s clientele was sex traffickers and their victims. One of the plaintiffs testified that Red Roof staff never asked if she needed help, though it was obvious that she and others were being trafficked. She said Red Roof hotels were preferred by traffickers, who seemed to be more comfortable there than at other hotels.

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