Issue: Marriott was racist.
Asked Compensation: An authentic apology and Marriott points
for ONLY the room I stayed in for the 2 days I was there- shouldn’t be made to
feel like a second class citizen and get the pleasure of offering cash to make
that happen.
The story…
On February 13th, 2014, I was staying at the
Walnut Creek Marriott on a business trip (Round Robin held by the College
Preparatory School) when Sharon Hopkins (director from University Preparatory in Detroit, her two students, myself (all African Americans) and Elyse
Conkin (who is white), all enter the elevator to head to a debate round. In the
elevator is a hotel employee named Nolette, who asks what floor we’re going to,
and hit’s the button. Once the doors close, the employee turns her back on the four blacks in the elevator and sparks a very
friendly conversation with the only white woman in the elevator, until the
employee gets out of the elevator. The conversation was so friendly but the
situation was so awkward I had to ask Elyse if they’d ever even met, to which
she says no. Everyone in the elevator noted the racism. It was racist, but I
deal with racism every day. So I just planned on letting it slide (like most
things).
The next day, as we’re planning on leaving the hotel (we
didn’t clear and needed to get across the bay to check 75 kids into a hotel in
Berkeley, which is close enough to walk and I never need buses (which is the
only reason we didn’t stay in a Marriott- our team doesn’t even ask where
they’re staying- just “courtyard, res inn or spring hill). As I’m about to head
downstairs to start a debate I was to be judging in, I walk by Nolette who asks
me “how my stay has been?” I feel this gives me the opportunity to tell her
what she did, to which she apologized (but not a “I’m sorry” but an “I’m sorry
you feel that way”- which is only definitionally an apology, but not an
admission of wrong doing- which in this instance is critical- because her claim
just says “sorry you saw that as racist” which denies that it was racist, as
opposed to “sorry I did this racist thing” which acknowledges fault in the
speaker. I responded in the exact way I described above- I felt the apology was
hallow and forced, since it seemed she had a superior standing next to her (who
turned out to be one of the hotel managers- Frank). As I go to walk off, he
stops me and says he wants to talk- so I stop right there and begin talking
(remember- we’re in the lobby when he approached me AND I had a round I needed
to judge, so I was headed to do that so I could leave the hotel and check kids
in another hotel 25 miles away). He also realizes this could be an
uncomfortable conversation in the lobby, so he wants to go to his office. I
tell him I don’t have time to go to the office, I have things I need to do for
my job, and why couldn’t we finish the conversation here, as I needed to be out
of the hotel by 1pm. He repeats the desire to have it in private, I repeat to
him I have an job I need to do, so I can’t and that I’ll be leaving by 1p. He then
talks to the woman running the tournament to set up a meeting time to discuss
all these issues and I was invited to attend this 1:30pm meeting (seems like
rather coincidence the meeting was set at a time I needed to be somewhere else-
or it got the intent it wanted- a meeting without me at it). I have no idea
what happened in that meeting, or even if there was a meeting- I was en route
to Berkeley. The situation still bothered me, but a job is a job…(this made it
an open issue b/c my complaint and then they closed it because I “chose” not to
meet with them- which is Hobson’s choice- stay and have this converation and
possibly be at risk for 75 kids in a city I wasn’t in yet OR walk away from a
conversation I needed to have with the hotel, but it seemed the hotel manager
set a time he knew I couldn’t meet.
…a week later I decide to call Marriott to talk about this
issue, and to get some modicum of compensation for the miserable experience. I
speak with people at customer care, who tell me I need to speak to the hotel
directly (the people that made me feel like a second class citizen) to explain
my complaints and ask them for compensation (not quite like making a rape
victim relive her experiences, but traumatic nonetheless- if you’d like the
studies feel free to ask me- just don’t feel like providing cited references in
this). I told them they could have the hotel call and/or email me and we can
correspond that way. Customer care says they’ll have someone call or leave an
email….
…a few weeks pass and Customer Care calls for a follow up,
to see what the resolution had been. When I informed them I had not been
contacted at all, they told me someone called. I have a voice mail as well as
caller id- the only way they called is 1) they didn’t use a business line, and
2) they didn’t leave messages, which would not be particularly professional.
They tell me they will follow up with the hotel and have them send me an email.
They do. Quicky. Holice Travis emailed me in under 24 hours. But his email was
problematic: it never acknowledged any fault and treated the experience as if I
perceived something that didn’t happen (remember- there were witnesses). Once
he sent the email- it became a closed issue again. This email comes for me at a
time where I have zero free time to do anything- we have state and national qualifers
for speech and debate, practices everyday as well as this is an evaluation year
for me, which means more things that take more time. Because of this, I didn’t
get a chance to respond to his email until April 17…
…on April 17th however, I did respond to the
email, and told him that these things DID happen to me, despite his claim that
“there has never been any discriminatory behavior exhibited from any member of
our staff” and that despite “bias and discrimination is not who she is” her
treatment of ME in the elevator would be true of that, and how it’s possible
that, as her supervisor, she might be different around him than around 4 blacks
she doesn’t know (or obviously feel she doesn’t need to know). He also felt
that I “could have met with them but didn’t”- which assumes I don’t have kids
in another hotel in another city- the manager in his claims to both the general
manager and the corporate office seems to leave off the claim I openly made
that I needed to be out of the hotel by 1pm…in the letter all I ask for is
compensation for the room I stayed in- and not even the money back. We stayed
in 3 rooms and I only wanted the points for the room I stayed in for the 2
nights…
…On April 30, I decide to call Marriott to find out why
there has been no response and that the case has been CLOSED since March 8th,
when Mr. Travis sent the email that essentially called me a liar and said if I
wanted to deal with it I should have come to the meeting they held (at 1:30p,
specifically after being told I needed to be out of the hotel at 1p). Customer
care tells me there’s not a lot they can do so they transfer me to Mr.
Marriott’s Office of Customer Affairs, where I explain the situation- she asks
me 3 questions: 1) Did Nolette apologize? 2) Did they offer you a meeting? 3)
Did the hotel manager email you about it?
You don’t have to have a 178 on the LSAT or a 36R on the
MCAT to see the writing on this wall.
I explain to her this is frustrating because I have a real
complaint of racism, and you’re literally going over a checklist to see if they
met procedure- which will allow them to be racists as long as they followed the
procedure. The woman on the phone gets mad AT ME because I said that their
policies allowed for racist actions. “I’m sorry that you’re offended by that
(see what I did there?) but the idea that me describing an instance where
racism is happening to me and
describing how those policies allow you to act in fashions that perpetuate that
racism offends you is actually laughable. And offensive. And dismissive.” She
then tells me “I’ll evaluate your case and get back to you soon.”
I don’t expect a positive response. I actually don’t really
even expect a response. Because that would be respectful, and I feel my
interaction with the Walnut Creek Marriott in particular were only magnified
and compounded with the consistent runaround and dismissiveness .
Until this gets some form of resolution, I’ll never give the
Marriott another dime.
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