Turned down service: Bias costs hotel more than their accepting name

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12/16/2008

by Jeremy Hooper

"Be sure to stay somewhere other than the Manchester Hyatt."

Since summer, I've said the above line to any and everyone who's even thinking of travelling to San Diego. I've 200812161358 said to it friends, I've said it to loved ones. I've said it to random people who I've seen standing in travel agents' offices holding west coast zoo brochures. I've said it to ten-year-old kids wearing Padres caps. I've said it to the voices inside my head. I've said it to Jesus, just in case that he, upon his return, decides he wants to see a show at La Jolla Playhouse before bringing forth Armageddon. You get the picture.

Well, it seems that gays' persistence in getting the word out about owner Doug Manchester's $125,000 Proposition 8 donation has proven effective. This from the Beyond Chron blog:

Since July, when it was learned that Manchester donated $125,000 to Proposition 8, a Nov. 4 ballot measure that would have banned same-sex marriage statewide, UNITE-HERE Local 30 has held protests weekly in front of the 1,625-room Manchester Grand Hyatt San Diego. Hotel Marketing Manager Kelly Commerford said union protests have cost the hotel $2.4 million because of canceled bookings, in conjunction with meetings at the property or the San Diego Convention Center.
Manchester Grand Hyatt Boycott Very Effective [Beyond Chron]

Wow, $2.4 million, or, approximately, the cost of one small item from the typical hotel's mini bar. That's quite a loss there, Doug. And all so that you could help keep gay couples from celebrating their honeymoons in your rooms? Why that's more of a waste than that one random, not-so-comfy chair that's always in the corner of a standard American hotel room, but that nobody ever actually sits in. And, of course, Prop 8 is WAY more hurtful than even the hardest of these superfluous seats!

It remains to be seen if/when/how Manchester will be able to reverses his queer fortune. But as of now, it would seem that visiting vegetarians are more likely to pilfer and fry up Shamu than local gays are to patronize his accommodations.

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