Marriott sent a rescue ship to the Caribbean after Irma and left non-guests on the dock

[yortsed snacilbuper]

Shortly after the ship arrived, about three dozen people — tourists not staying at Marriott hotels who had also ridden out the hurricane — watched as the vessel pulled away with hundreds of empty seats.

link

[Angry Dragon]

1. a little short on the PR end

[RandiFan1290]

2. Marriott turned us away in Macon, GA because we had a cat and a dog

They told us we could put them in a shelter down the road.
They screwed us around long enough for us to miss any chance to get the last few rooms and had to drive hundreds of miles out of the way to find a place to sleep.

Fuck Marriott

[Not Ruth]

3. I bet that this was more about race than anything else, were the guests white?

[Ace Rothstein]

8. Did you actually read the article?

The people left behind were tourists staying at non-Marriott properties.

[Not Ruth]

9. I did, were the guests white?

[Ace Rothstein]

10. Who knows?

Seems like a ridiculous assumption based on the facts available.

[jberryhill]

11. Most of the article seems based on the account of a guy who went there on purpose...

...to make money on the storm, and is now upset that there was a storm.

[DFW]

4. After reading the article

It wasn't at all clear that this was a decision made by Marriott alone. If the St. Thomas port authority said no one would be allowed on the ship if not on Marriott's list, it could be ascribed to them just as easily as to Marriott. If I were the captain of the ship, and I had a tiny time window to get out of there, and my choice was risk a fight with the port authority and lose the time to get everyone else out safely, I would have a had a hard time risking the boat going down by staying. Of course, after the storm, I would have felt like sailing back with 100 Hell's Angels and beating the crap out of the port authority people, but that wouldn't have helped the stranded people either. It just would have made me feel better.

[Cicada]

5. Marriott said local officials countered their wishes to board them

Marriott said local officials insisted that Marriott had to provide detailed information on all who boarded. They were able to gather that info from their guests. But they had no idea who the nonguests were who showed up. Marriott says they asked local officials to permit the nonguests to board but their request was denied because they had failed to provide info on the nonguests in advance.

[LisaL]

6. If that's true then it is not Marriott's fault.

They were worried about second hurricane and didn't have time to wait, and sounds like local authorities weren't allowing non-guests to board.

[jberryhill]

7. This guy -

“We just felt hopelessness,” said Cody Howard, a professional storm chaser who had been contracted to shoot weather footage on the island. His exit strategy evaporated when the island’s airport closed.

...

“The whole sense that I got out of it was: We didn’t pay enough money to stay at a Marriott place, therefore, we weren’t good enough to get on that boat,” he said.

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Let me get this straight... the guy went there BECAUSE a hurricane was coming in order to make money, and now feels "hopeless" that he's been stuck there for a couple of days because the hurricane came?

I don't know what sort of qualifications are required to be a "professional storm chaser" but, good golly, does he know anything about storms?

Hey, Cody, it's a hurricane. Shit happens. Charge more for your video.