Marriott: Our Hotels = "The Bad Part of Town"
A woman raped and robbed at gunpoint in a paid parking garage at the Stamford, CT Marriott Hotel & Spa filed an anonymous lawsuit against the hotel, alleging negligence. The hotel's response:
1. Alleges that the woman herself was responsible. Evidently, the paid parking garage of a Marriott hotel is the sort of place where one should be taking exceptional measures to ensure one's safety, and walking from your car to the hotel with your children is something you just shouldn't do.
2. Violates the woman's privacy by subpoenaing acquaintances unrelated to the incident (presumably as "character witnesses", (hopefully) unwilling accessories to the victim-blaming highlighted in point 1).
In light of the above, it would be a good idea to avoid Marriott and affiliated hotels* until they realize that they should spend some reasonable amount of effort on keeping hotel grounds safe and that being misogynistic jerks, even in the course of a legal defense, is unacceptable. If you do decide to change your hotel-related decisions based on this story, it might be a good idea to tell Marriott, too.
(Story via here and here.)
* That includes the ones with Marriott in the name, but also Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn, and TownePlace Suites.
ETA: Marriott's (IMO half-hearted) response:
Dear Valued Guest,
Thank you for contacting Marriott.
We wish to convey our respect and sympathy for Ms. Doe and her family, who were the victims of a horrendous crime in 2006.
Marriott is profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime. And unfortunately this situation has created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect and concern for Ms. Doe or other victims of violent crime.
However, out of respect for the privacy of the victim and the expectations of the Court in the pending litigation, we are not at liberty to comment on the claims or defenses in this case.
Regards,
Marriott Customer Care
[boilerplate ordering the recipient not to post the message anywhere omitted]
This seems to be the same statement the AP is reporting on. Don't know how Marriott could have expected that to help matters (to be fair, most likely they didn't, their organization is simply not capable of responding quickly to this sort of consumer anger).
1. Alleges that the woman herself was responsible. Evidently, the paid parking garage of a Marriott hotel is the sort of place where one should be taking exceptional measures to ensure one's safety, and walking from your car to the hotel with your children is something you just shouldn't do.
2. Violates the woman's privacy by subpoenaing acquaintances unrelated to the incident (presumably as "character witnesses", (hopefully) unwilling accessories to the victim-blaming highlighted in point 1).
In light of the above, it would be a good idea to avoid Marriott and affiliated hotels* until they realize that they should spend some reasonable amount of effort on keeping hotel grounds safe and that being misogynistic jerks, even in the course of a legal defense, is unacceptable. If you do decide to change your hotel-related decisions based on this story, it might be a good idea to tell Marriott, too.
(Story via here and here.)
* That includes the ones with Marriott in the name, but also Renaissance Hotels & Resorts, Ritz-Carlton, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, Courtyard, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites, Residence Inn, and TownePlace Suites.
ETA: Marriott's (IMO half-hearted) response:
Dear Valued Guest,
Thank you for contacting Marriott.
We wish to convey our respect and sympathy for Ms. Doe and her family, who were the victims of a horrendous crime in 2006.
Marriott is profoundly sorry that such a terrible thing happened to the victim of this violent crime. And unfortunately this situation has created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect and concern for Ms. Doe or other victims of violent crime.
However, out of respect for the privacy of the victim and the expectations of the Court in the pending litigation, we are not at liberty to comment on the claims or defenses in this case.
Regards,
Marriott Customer Care
[boilerplate ordering the recipient not to post the message anywhere omitted]
This seems to be the same statement the AP is reporting on. Don't know how Marriott could have expected that to help matters (to be fair, most likely they didn't, their organization is simply not capable of responding quickly to this sort of consumer anger).