...and there was no room at the Marriott for his group, but plenty of room at another near-by Marriott to host the annual CAIR banquet...
The way I am reading this, it looks like when this group went to book, they were full, there is no indication that they were 'bumped' for CAIR, on the contrary, CAIR may have booked early.
The other issue I have is this Jeff Epstein, albeit well intentioned, is behind this rucus over businesses that won't sponsor his event. Just because an ex- mortgage banker starts a website and has a symposium, he shouldn't 'strong-arm' businesses into supporting him. While he has a few well known speakers, most business would look at the list and shurg. Similar events I've seen on the subject had real high face value speakers such as Guilliani. That will attract businesses to sponsor, not a bunch of analysts.
No, I see this as just a way to try to strong arm businesses for donations by claiming if they don't they support terrorism. Very poor form.
That is incorrect. Marriott explicitly cited security concerns about the anti-terror conference:
According to the Georgetown Marriott executives, the decision to reject the event, being hosted by the People's Truth Forum, or PTF, was based upon business considerations: "The event would call for heightened security since protesters might be attracted from both the student body and off campus. These same protesters might block the front entrance leading to confrontations with hotel guests and/or room cancellations."Link