Saturday, September 3, 2005

BOYCOTT HYATT HOTELS

I love Hyatt Hotels and Resorts. I've been to several of them when they were opening, because years ago I worked at the agency that had the account. They are magnificent. The service is impeccable. The ambience is opulent. Sure there are fancier places, but I always felt that Hyatt set a standard of quality for the business traveler and the destination experience that others have had to emulate to be competitive.

But when I read what happened at the Super Dome, when 700 Hyatt guests and employees were allowed to jump the busline line ahead of all those folks who had been waiting in that muck and the stench for a week, it pissed me the hell off. 

So, when I have a choice, I will never stay at another Hyatt again.

I also can't believe that the National Guardsmen were helping these mopes with their luggage too.

This is a massive PR debacle for Hyatt. Not one that can be undone very easily.

Unlike Wal-Mart, not one of my favorite places, which lost around thirty-five stores to storm damage. They have offered every single employee of those stores a job at any of the other Wal-Marts anywhere in the country. Just walk in and you're employed again. They set the bar pretty high for other businesses to follow.

Hyatt Hotels are going to have to do something equally as powerful to say they're sorry.

A free weekend every year for life for the fifteen to twenty thousand people they fucked over. There is no other word for it. How about jobs or at least job training? Or free meals at their renowned restaurants?  

I'm going to miss the candy on the pillows, the wonderful soaps, and the fabulous room service. But I will feel so much better any place else, a Westin, a Four Seasons, even a Motel Six, instead.

I only wish there was some way to get back at the assheads who felt entitled to jump the line ahead of all those more deserving people. I would have been too embarrassed to do something like that.

I would have found a mother with kids and told the National Guardsmen that she could have my place. And if she couldn't then I wasn't going. I would also ask the soldiers why the hell they were carrying anybody's luggage.

I would go up to some of the other people from the hotel and get in their faces and ask them what right did they think they had getting on a bus ahead of all these other people anyway. What made them think they were better?

If most of the 700 Hyatt people were white, I would have pointed that out.


Yes, I'm also sure I would have been arrested and taken away.

But it would have been worth it.  I'm not called a Loose Cannon for nothing you know.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

You go girl!!!!!!!!  Pisses me the hell off too!

Stacy

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't be so quick to be pissed at Hyatt until we hear what role they played in their people getting moved up.  If the mayor said, we're taking your building and these people are out of here, who's fault is that?  Not Hyatts.  

Anonymous said...

And don't get me started on the mayor.  Mrs. L

Anonymous said...

I am aware of the reason the 700 people were displaced.  Figure out another way to move them other than flaunting their departure in front of the folks at the Super Dome. Still, no way they had a right to go first. There are a million ways this could have been handled better and none of them were put in place. Mrs. L

Anonymous said...

I'm with Mrs. L...there was a story last night of a mother who handed over her newborn but stayed behind herself, with the goal of getting her newborn to safety when she herself couldn't get out...how on earth could anyone justify bumping the line?

Judi

Anonymous said...

Mrs. L
I'd demand to be shackled and taken away with you!  Wait, that didn't come out right.  Hmmm... Let me just say I support your thoughts on this!
Sam

Anonymous said...

I agree that it is disgraceful that these people were placed ahead of all others, but how is it Hyatt's fault?  The mayor of the city is the one who ordered them to the front of the line.  He is the one who should be held accountable.  I could see this being a Hyatt problem if everyone was in line in front of the Hyatt and this happened, but they were at the Superdome.

The mext mayoral election campaign in New Orleans should be VERY interesting.

Anonymous said...

I guarantee that Hyatt made a deal with the Mayor.  Sure we'll let you have the hotel if you promise our people can get on the next buses out of town. You are naive to think they didn't work something out with the mayor to accommodate their guests and employees  Their job is the provide service.  They don't give a rip about what's right or wrong.  They just want to keep their guests and employees happy.  Mrs. L

Anonymous said...

Just another example of how corporations run things - to the point that soldiers with guns will carry their luggage. It's sick.
XOXO...Kelli

Anonymous said...

Cast another vote for Mayor McDickcheese. Someone needs to hit that guy in the ass with a thorazine dart. Where's Marlin Perkins when you really need him?

Anonymous said...

Boycott Hyatt Hotels, Buy a Macy Gray cd!

Here's why: http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/special/05/katrina/3338669

~tara

Anonymous said...

I am right with you Mrs. L. judi

Anonymous said...

God Mrs L, I'm amazed!  I read this and thought, no she can't be serious but I realise you are serious.  I can honestly say, that sort of situation wouldn't have happened here.  Maybe residing in the UK isn't too bad after all.

Annie :-)

Anonymous said...

I think with this disaster, there will be many who will have to answer for their actions and choices. It's a sad testatment to the mentality of some, and a glorious testament to the character of others. I suppose with anything, we always get to see the good the bad and the ugly of humanity.
Rebecca