August 28, 2008

California Proposition 8: More on Manchester Hotel Boycott (It’s Working, Big-Time!)

As I wrote earlier today, Dougie: “You could have just shut up, [sat] back, and left us alone, but noooooooo, you had to stick your nose (and your money) into an issue that never had any effect on you, your family, or your hotels. Now you’re involved, Dougie, and you (and your employees, and your vendors, and everybody else who depends on you to make a living) have no one to blame but yourself.”

Manchester executive is troubled by boycott

Officials at the Manchester Financial Group have argued for weeks that a boycott by gay rights and union groups hasn’t hurt business at its two San Diego hotels, the Manchester Grand Hyatt and The Grand Del Mar.

But a top company official, in an e-mail obtained by The San Diego Union-Tribune, painted a different picture, saying the boycott could have dire consequences for hotel owner Doug Manchester that could cost him millions of dollars in lost business.

In a July 29 e-mail to Manchester, Paul Wilkins, chief financial officer for the group, said he believed “this boycott effort will cost you millions of dollars of lost revenue and possibly tens of millions of dollars in lost value for both the Manchester Grand Hyatt and The Grand Del Mar.”

Wilkins, who did not return several phone calls seeking comment, also warned about the dangers of alienating the gay community, which he called a “large and very affluent market segment.”

Further, he said The Grand Del Mar “is still struggling financially” 10 months after opening and the “absolute last thing The Grand needs right now is a boycott.” …

Since the boycott began, several groups, including the county retirement board and the Association of American Law Schools, canceled events at the Manchester Hyatt, one of the largest hotels on the West Coast. …

A prominent developer, Manchester has been a generous political contributor. State records show that in 2006 he gave about $147,000 to a variety of largely Republican causes. …

In a July interview, Manchester said he does not intend to give any more money to Proposition 8.

Yesterday, Manchester said he was rejecting Wilkins’ recommendations in the e-mail that Manchester try to defuse the controversy by asking for his $125,000 donation to be returned or by making an offsetting donation to the campaign against Proposition 8. …

Wilkins said that the controversy could prompt action from the Hyatt Corp., which manages the Manchester Grand Hyatt. He noted that there have been calls to extend the boycott to all Hyatt hotels and for the company to end its contract with Manchester. …

The campaign against Manchester’s business represents a rare use of boycotts in California’s expensive ballot battles.

Religious conservatives have used boycotts during the past decade against corporate giants that they believe are becoming too cozy with the gay and lesbian community, including Ford, Disney and McDonald’s.*

Some analysts say gays and lesbians are a critical market for high-end hotels. …

One San Diego hotel company, the Evans Hotels, which operates The Lodge at Torrey Pines … has been donating a percentage of its sales from same-sex weddings to help defeat Proposition 8, said Bill Evans, director of operations for Evans Hotels. …

More at the link, and it’s all quite encouraging. (The comments on this article, by the way, have been freeped by a bunch of pot-stirrers yammering on about a “cure” for homosexuality. What they need is a cure for compulsive assholism.)

Mind you, we’re not above feeling some good, old-fashioned Schadenfreude (in lieu of Manchester becoming an enlightened ally, which is never going to happen) — but, all emotion aside, Manchester is not going to donate any more money to Proposition 8. That, my friends, is a victory in itself — although no reason to take the pressure off Manchester. He will continue contributing to anti-gay causes (just look at his hard-right Republican donations, here, and here), but at least we’ve kept him from any further funding of the most immediate threat to our lives.

Whether he says his decision to donate nothing further to Prop 8 is or isn’t because of the boycott doesn’t matter. Doug Manchester is right in the middle of our radar screen, and he knows it; withholding money Manchester will use against us is the only way to stop his assault on our our families.

And who knows? Maybe one day he’ll come around and see just how un-Christlike he’s being.

But don’t count on it.

* The very three boycotts I mentioned earlier today (before I read this article, I swear)! LOL

Posted by: Sapphocrat

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