NEW YORK — Tom Bodett, the instantly recognizable voice behind Motel 6’s long-running advertising slogan, has filed a federal lawsuit against the company, claiming breach of contract and unauthorized use of his name and voice following its acquisition by a new owner.
Filed June 9 in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, the complaint alleges that Motel 6’s new parent company—India-based hospitality firm OYO—failed to make a $1.2 million payment due under a contract that was supposed to extend through 2025. The missed payment came just weeks after OYO finalized its purchase of Motel 6 in December 2024.
Bodett, through his Alaska-based company Bodett & Co., terminated the agreement in January. Despite that, the lawsuit claims, Motel 6 continued to use Bodett’s voice on its national reservation system for months without his consent. He is now seeking damages for breach of contract, false endorsement under the Lanham Act, and violations of New York’s civil rights laws.
According to the filing, Bodett made multiple attempts to negotiate a quiet, amicable end to the nearly 40-year partnership but was met with stalling, lowball offers, and silence. With no resolution reached, he turned to the courts.
The lawsuit marks a bitter turn in what had been one of the most iconic and enduring relationships in American advertising. Bodett first became the voice of Motel 6 in the mid-1980s while living and working in Homer, Alaska. At the time, he was building homes and doing radio commentary for NPR when a Dallas ad executive heard his voice and hired him for a single Motel 6 commercial. During the recording session, Bodett improvised the now-famous line: “We’ll leave the light on for you.”
That off-the-cuff tagline struck a chord with audiences and launched Bodett into a decades-long role as the brand’s everyman voice—humble, trustworthy, and unmistakable. The campaign went on to win more than 150 advertising awards and helped define Motel 6’s public image for generations.
Despite the falling-out, Bodett has said he still cherishes the legacy he helped build. But now, he says, the time has come to protect that legacy through legal action. Motel 6 has not yet publicly responded to the lawsuit.
