A source at Liverpool Football Club [stated that] the club made the decision to avoid the Marsa Malaz Kempinski over ethical concerns about workers rights... the club was concerned by accusations levelled by human rights groups and newspaper reports that Kempinski had breached labour laws and not paid its workers properly...

[In 2018] UK-based Business and Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) ran a survey asking several hotel companies, including Kempinski, whether it had a policy on construction and hotel workers.

Kempinski did not respond to BHRRC's survey until after it was published...

Diana Eltahawy, a spokersperson for BHRRC, told MEE that other clubs like Liverpool should "leverage their power to improve conditions for workers".