Outrage after inhospitality - no rooms for Cubans

[KOMPRESSOR]

NORWAY/SWEDEN:

The Scandic Hotel (US Hilton owned) chain's refusal to accept Cuban guests due to
the policy of their new American owners has sparked furious reaction from a
range of groups.

The Anti-racist Center, the Equality and Anti-discrimination Ombud (LDO) and the Oslo
office of trade union confederation LO have issued strong reactions after a Cuban
Tourism delegation were denied rooms at the Scandic Edderkoppen Hotel in Oslo.

The Scandic chain was bought up by the American Hilton group in March last year. Due
to the US trade boycott of Cuba, the Cuban delegation was turned away from the Oslo
hotel.

The Cuban group, which was in Norway to take party in the Tourism Exhibition in
Lillestrøm in mid-January, had used the Edderkoppen Hotel in Oslo during their visits
over the previous five years. Just before Christmas the Cubans were told that they
would have to find a new hotel this year, newspaper VG reports.



Hotel chain under fire:
Outrage after inhospitality - Aftenposten 01.04.2007
No room for Cubans - Aftenposten 01.04.2007

- - - - - - -

The incident is reported to the police and investegated. The US owned hotel group
Scandic/Hilton is now experiencing a massive boycott from Norwegian organisations,
workers unions, private persons as well as local and regional governments' choosing
other hotels for their activities.

 

[Kim]

Disgusting. Sounds like you guys are going to make sure their 'hotel' stays pretty empty. Good job.

 

[mislav]

Outrage justified and I add this:

 

[RonDawg]

Does that mean that Paris Hilton is also on the Norwegian boycott list?

Seriously, all this "boycott" will do is put a lot of local Norwegians out of work. The company appears to be hamstrung by a nearly 45 year old US law (and is not a reflection of the company's preferences, as implied by this so-called news article). A boycott won't cause the company to do an about face (again it feels it can't without violating US law) and it certainly won't change US policy towards Cuba that dates back to John F. Kennedy.

This is a statement directly from the Scandic English website:

We at Hilton Corporation and Scandic have always held it as a crucial core value and completely self-evident that all people shall be treated as equals. We do not discriminate against anyone on the basis of gender, skin colour, national or ethnic origin, linguistic or religious affiliation, functional disability or sexual preference.
In December a Cuban trade delegation booked a room at a Scandic hotel in Oslo. Hilton Corporation has been advised that this conflicted with the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba, which we as a US company are obliged to follow, and therefore the reservation was cancelled. Since this was a trade delegation and our actions were mandated by US law, we believe that the cancellation does not conflict with our core belief in non-discrimination.
Our way of doing business is always to comply with legislation, locally in the Nordics and other countries where we operate, as well as the US.
Hilton Corporations is working with the relevant authorities to address our dilemma and need of finding a solution.
For further information please contact:
Linda Bain
Vice President - Communications
Mob: +44 (0) 7974 229 247
Email: linda.bain@hilton.com

http://www.scandic-hotels.com/corporateinfo/906_NewsRelease.jsp?nid=11648134

 

[Kim]

Seriously, all this "boycott" will do is put a lot of local Norwegians out of work.

Yes....but the Hilton group will still have to pay them! What it will do is cost the Hilton group a bunch of money and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up having to sell the hotel unless they can find some way to get an exemption from the US law.

All they're saying now is effectively... "We don't want to discrimate and it's not our fault - we're just following orders!". Well, European countries have heard that line before and it just doesn't cut it. They'll be lucky if the boycott doesn't start to spread to other European countries.

 

[RonDawg]

Yes....but the Hilton group will still have to pay them! What it will do is cost the Hilton group a bunch of money and I wouldn't be surprised if they end up having to sell the hotel unless they can find some way to get an exemption from the US law.

Not if their hotels aren't making any money. We in the US call it "layoffs." I think the British euphemism is "redundancy."

 

[Kim]

Not if their hotels aren't making any money. We in the US call it "layoffs." I think the British euphemism is "redundancy."

Yes, but you obviously don't know much about European labour law. I don't know the exact laws in Norway but I've always heard that the Scandanavian countries are even tighter than the rest of Europe. In Holland (which I know a LOT about - I employed 16 people there) laying someone off will cost you about 2 years full salary payouts. I very much doubt if Norway is very different, it could easily be more. This is going to cost Hilton group bigtime!

In fact....if it would go to court over there I could easily see a Norwegian judge saying that the Owner caused it themself so the payouts could end up being for a VERY long time!

 

[RonDawg]

The Hilton Group aren't exactly living paycheck to paycheck either. Just look at the way Paris lives. I'm sure the Hilton Group were aware of Norway's labor laws when they bought the Scandia chain, and I'm sure they were aware of just how much it would cost them to have to lay off all their staff if things didn't work out. They didn't become the world's biggest hotel chain by being idiots. Far from it.

While it will cost them big bucks, it won't put them out of business. In the meantime, you'll have people that are unemployed and on paychecks that will eventually run out, and that's the people who will suffer the most.

This sort of boycott-madness was seen at the height of anti-French sentiment here in the US a few years ago, when many were calling for boycotts of the Motel 6 and Red Roof Inn chains, simply because they were owned by French hotel giant Accor. Never mind such a boycott would affect Americans in a job sector that sees relatively low pay and meager if any benefits.

I am also bothered by your apparent glee in seeing a company lose millions of dollars over a situation that is out of their control. I hope you have a bit more sympathy for those who lost their businesses in Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters.

 

[Kim]

I am also bothered by your apparent glee in seeing a company lose millions of dollars over a situation that is out of their control.

It's not out of their control. As I already said - lot's of people don't accept the "we were following orders" line. If an outside company came to the US, acted in a way TOTALLY against principles held dear in the US, and then said it was only because of their own country's laws....how would YOU react? Would you honestly just say... "Oh....well that's alright then." ?

Somehow I doubt that VERY much.

I don't have any particular axe to grind with Hilton. If they can't respect and abide by the norms of the societies where they wish to operate though...well...then they pay the consequences. If they are UNABLE to do that - they shouldn't have gone there to start with.

 

[Kim]

I hope you have a bit more sympathy for those who lost their businesses in Hurricane Katrina and other natural disasters.

I have every sympathy for such folks. I don't see the parallel. Are you suggesting that somehow natural disasters are the result of American lawmaking? I wouldn't have thought so.