davie355

Black guest at a Portland Marriott hotel claims she had to make a ‘no party’ promise but white guests didn’t; sues for $300k

zerolife

never stayed at this particular property but first time I'm hearing requirement to sign no party policy

Chewie

What if the guests she saw had been repeat guests and previously signed the documentation on a prior stay? Perhaps they keep the disclaimer on file?

Jiatong

This post should be moved to OMNI

Nazdoom

As a Canadian, this part of the article really exemplifies my perception of Americans and frivolous lawsuits:

"Gonzales’ suit seeks $300,000 for embarrassment, frustration, humiliation and “feelings of racial stigmatization.” The suit also says it could later be amended to add $1 million in punitive damages."

Like, really? Even if her side of the story is the whole story and she was in fact singled out based on race (which is questionable, but for the sake of argument...), surely the maximum justifiable amount would be three to four digits of compensation, not six or seven. I understand shooting for the moon, but this is so ridiculous. You would get less money if Bill Marriott personally chopped off your left ear and both big toes.

In terms of what happened, we don't have enough information and we only have one side, but some obvious alternative explanations are: maybe the other guests who didn't have to sign had already signed an agreement on a previous stay, maybe only guests who are staying for "personal" reasons are asked to sign, maybe the associate who checked the others in wasn't trained properly and was supposed to get them to sign, maybe they were part of a group reservation and the relevant party signed for them in advance, etc. It's a pretty significant leap to claim it was based on race.

Personally, I've never been asked to sign a "no party" promise, but I have been asked to sign some other types of promises during check-in, usually relating to smoking (in Asia Pacific). In one Chinese JW, I was told by the assistant front office manager that there was a no-smoking form guests have to sign but that it is only in Chinese, and as a "white guy", I didn't have to worry about it because "you guys don't do that".

Staff sometimes say or do the darndest things, whether funny, innocuous, unintentionally hurtful, or purely malicious. If something truly bothers you, you can give your feedback to management. In this case, if the plaintiff spoke with management before going directly to her lawyer, we would have some insight into whether this was truly a systematic discriminatory policy as she alleges, or whether it was a rogue employee or a simple misunderstanding (most likely).

Newman

Welcome to the US legal system.
Overly sensitive people who claim "victim" status at the drop of a hat. And when someone calls them out on the speciousness of their claims, he/she is immediately accused of racism, sexism, homophobia, etc.
Mix the preceding with money-grubbing, ambulance chasing lawyers......
What a joke. What a mess.....

Newman

Often1

Not to worry. Either there are significant facts not reported, to back this up and prove a claim OR this will be dismissed soon enough.

Remember, this is a news story reporting that a lawsuit was filed. Not a remote suggestion that there is any validity to it and OP has no additional facts.

bitterproffit

deleted

swstalker

Ive signed these so many times I dont even notice anymore. Especially when I stay in New Jersey for some reason.

EuropeanPete

A lot of dislike of the extra judiciousness of the US legal system which I can sympathise with, but fewer people seem to acknowledge the fundamentally different treatment experienced by black people across the country who are systematically discriminated against by individuals, corporations and state actors. It must be said, it’s not difficult to complain about people being victims when you’re a white male.

None of us know the facts here, but if a multinational corporation does on occasion treat people differently based on their race then I hope the case is successful.

SJWarrior

I’ve had to sign them at certain properties in iffy areas. Same hotels over and over. Once I hit plat it slowed down. Once I hit Titanium, they quit asking.

I think the victim here was probably a gold or below. I’d bet money on it. Any takers ? When everyone is special, no one is.....

dayone

I've also signed a few of them. Usually it made some sense, based on the location, date or some other fact.

JackE

There's quite a bit of discrimination against white males these days. You're just exhibited it yourself!

As to your comment about "a multinational corporation", Marriott does not require a no-party agreement.

VickiSoCal

I am 99 percent sure we signed one at the other RI (Pearl) last year. We are white.

JBord

Me too. I suspect one of the times was when I had booked a large penthouse suite (wasn't planning a party of any sort). What I haven't done is sat in front of the front desk afterward and peered over the shoulders of other guests to see if they're signing them too. Maybe I've been discriminated against and didn't know it!

Right, anything like this is a requirement of an individual property or group, not a Marriott policy. Marriott has non-discrimination policies, so the hotel would have been breaking policy.