A lawmaker and the city’s powerful hotel workers’ union agreed to further soften a bill that will impose a licensing system on New York City’s hotels, responding to outcry from small hotel owners. The bill, which supporters say is now final after three major revisions, could pass the City Council next week.

At the heart of the Safe Hotels Act is a provision that would require hotels to directly employ public-facing workers like front desk staff and housekeepers instead of subcontracting them — a longtime priority of the Hotel and Gaming Trades Council union. Under a revised bill released on Wednesday, hotels with fewer than 100 guest rooms will be exempted from the subcontracting ban.

Although the Hotel Association of New York City, which represents larger hotels, had previously given the bill its blessing earlier this month, HANYC approached the union HTC again last week to request the new exemption, two people familiar with the negotiations told Crain’s. Owners of low-cost, non-union hotels outside of Manhattan had expressed anger at HANYC for signing off on the legislation, which they feared would financially burden independent owners while having little impact on larger, well-resourced hotels that already employ unionized workers.

The union, which had previously ignored loud criticism from national groups like the American Hotel and Lodging Association, agreed to make changes after last week’s outreach from HANYC, with whom HTC has a long working relationship, a union official said. Bill sponsor Julie Menin said the revisions were also influenced by testimony that small hotel owners made at the Oct. 9 hearing.

“We landed the plane in a really great place and we also listened to mom-and-pops who wanted flexibility on seasonal hiring,” Menin said. “We were able to preserve all the core provisions, which I’m thrilled about.”

It was not immediately clear whether the other groups that had opposed the bill, including the American Hotel and Lodging Association, were satisfied by the compromise.

The latest bill will require all hotels to obtain a city license every two years in order to operate, with a fee of $350 — up from $200 in the previous version. Supporters say the bill aims to improve safety for guests and workers, and the legislation will also require owners to provide “panic buttons” to employees who enter guest rooms, maintain a continuous front-desk or security presence, hire a certain number of security guards, and meet certain cleanliness standards for guest rooms.

With support from 37 members of the 51-person council, the bill is expected to pass as soon as the council’s next full meeting on Oct. 23. But that approval will come only after the bill was rewritten several times in response to criticism.

After introducing the bill in July in hopes of passing it quickly, Menin and HTC were forced to hit pause after the restaurant industry revolted against a provision that could have essentially terminated the leases of businesses that lease space in hotels. That section was changed, and the council made further revisions weeks later by narrowing the subcontracting rule to apply to fewer jobs, and changing language that some feared could deter investors.