When a Vancouver luxury hotel placed an ad seeking unpaid interns to bus tables last month, there was public outcry.

But using unpaid interns in the hospitality industry is widespread in the GTA as well. Some spend a semester changing pot pourri and scrubbing floors. While many interns gained meaningful experience, others found themselves doing menial tasks for nothing.

Samantha May, now 21, found herself cleaning rooms, including toilets, at an airport hotel for three months in 2011. She was required to clean 16 rooms a day, just like paid housekeeping staff.

“There were days I didn’t want to get up in the morning, mostly because I wasn’t getting paid. It’s like, ‘I don’t have to do this.’ ”

“Some men are very disgusting. Some ladies just don’t care about hair all over the place. I found a used condom in the bed once. That wasn’t very pretty,” she said. May was still in high school when she started as an intern, but her peers were in college.

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“I was only there for the experience. Some people, it does bother them because they would like to get paid, especially if they are doing a lot of work.”

According to Marriott, which granted the franchise to the hotel May worked at, ownership changed hands in 2013.

The new owners “don’t misuse interns. They’ve assured me they don’t,” said Scott Allison, vice president of Marriott’s Canadian operations. “We’ve spent a lot of time ensuring we are a place people want to work.”

“It’s also a fairness thing. These are young people looking for their first career. You want them to be equipped to enter the workforce with good education, but also with a view they haven’t been taken advantage of.”

Through Humber College’s Tourism and Hospitality Management diploma program, three semesters of classes are followed by an unpaid work term companies like InterContinental, Hyatt, Westin, Delta, Holiday Inn, Four Seasons, Sheraton, Hilton, Radisson, Ritz Carlton and Fairmont hotel chains, according to the program website.

May wants to stay in the industry. Her supervisors were supportive and she didn’t mind the work. She’s now enrolled at Humber herself, meaning she will do another unpaid internship at another hotel.

The controversy erupted in late summer, when one of Vancouver’s swankiest hotels, the Fairmont Waterfront, solicited an unpaid intern to clear tables. The intern program at Toronto’s Fairmont Royal York has been around for 15 years.

In hotels, “no job is too small,” said Kristy Adams, co-ordinator of Humber’s program. When she was president and CEO of Howard Johnson in Canada, she recalled accepting hospitality interns from colleges like Humber, Seneca and George Brown. Most were unpaid although many were hired on later, she said.

Adams defended the practice, particularly for students who otherwise lacked job experience.

“If they were paid positions, maybe they wouldn’t be able to offer this much education to all the institutions out there.”

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Toronto-based labour lawyer Andrew Langille said hiring unpaid interns is “pervasive” and estimated there are thousands of unpaid workers in the hospitality field in the GTA.

“Most of these internships aren’t educational. They’re simply a grab — free labour. I think that’s what we’re seeing play out in Toronto, Vancouver, any number of locations. These are very large corporations. They have the ability to pay.”

Etobicoke resident Rajesh Christi, 23, worked for four months as a housekeeping intern from January to April this year. He found himself changing the sheets and on some occasions, scrubbing the carpets of the Hyatt Regency on King Street.

“I did not complain, I just did the work,” said Christi, a student at Humber College. “If you are complaining it can cause you more trouble.”

“It’s not educational. What we’re learning in class and the work — it’s a totally different thing.”

A statement from Hyatt’s head office in Chicago said interns are compensated according to local laws, and that “student interns earn academic credit in lieu of paid compensation.”

“Like many other companies in our industry, Hyatt provides a variety of internship opportunities at its properties around the world for individuals who are considering a career in hospitality,” the company said.

Several interns contacted by the Star said they learned a lot and did have meaningful responsibilities. The Marriott’s Scott Allison said it can vary by individual hotel manager, but doesn’t believe more government oversight is required.

In Ontario, the Employment Standards Act does not apply to students performing work as part of a college or university degree program.

Both the Ontario Ministry of Labour and Human Resources Development Canada have received complaints about unpaid internships.

Seneca College offers paid internships, said spokeswoman Kayla Lewis, who added it was rare for the hotel industry.

The Canadian Intern Association advocates students work no more than 125 unpaid hours per semester or the equivalent of one course, and have called for greater regulation from the provincial government.

Have a story about working an unpaid internship? Email reporter Zoe McKnight at zmcknight@thestar.ca