Marriott Hotels: "Jerusalem, Occupied Palestinian Area" - not Jerusalem, Israel.

Avishai Weissberg

[solmar_israel]

One of the largest hotel chains with hotels all around the world, the Marriott Hotel Chain, recently wrote a letter to the chairman of Erez Travel and Tourism, Uzi Yalon, in which his address was listed as: "Jerusalem, Occupied Palestinian Area" - not Jerusalem, Israel.

The Marriott Hotel chain is based in Washington, and its hotels have served as popular convention sites for many Jewish organizations, including the Conference of Jewish Presidents, and many Israeli delegations to Washington have stayed at the hotel.

Mr. Yalon was outraged. He wrote back a letter to the hotel chain's board, "I was born in Jerusalem which has always been a part of the State of Israel. I am not prepared to assist in marketing a hotel chain which defines my city in such a way, and I plan to impart this to the rest of my colleagues in the upcoming convention of Israeli travel agents." The Marriott administration did not reply to his angry letter.

Mr. Yalon also sought the intervention of Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and outgoing Tourism Minister, Benny Elon. Mr.Yalon did not delay carrying out his threat. He reported to the "Tourism" journal, the professional Israel organ for travel agents, that he is stopping marketing for the Marriott chain in Israel, and he calls on all other travel agents to follow his example. The local representative of the Marriott hotels is an East Jerusalem tourism company run by a member of the Husseini family, Shakiv Husseini. The former regional director was also a Palestinian. Jews should consider whether they prefer to give their business to a company that is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause at the expense of the truth.

Action Items:

1) Boycott Marriott. The Marriott hotel chains owns the following hotels: Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, Conference Center, Town Plaza Suites, Spring Hill Suites. Ramada also partners with the elite Ritz-Carlton chain. Take your hotel business elsewhere.

2) Divest yourself of Marriott Stock. (NYSE:MAR). Sell individual shares of Marriott and let Marriott's investor relations department know why. See if your mutual funds holdings include Marriott. Let your broker, fund manager know that you are concerned about Marriott's slap in the face to Israel.

3) Voice your Concern to Marriott. For Marriott contact information, visit:http://www.marriott.com/suggest/suggest.asp or call or mail the corporate headquarters at: 10400 Fernwood Road, Bethesda, MD 20817; Phone: (301) 380-3000 / Fax: (301) 380-3967

[solmar_israel]

Shame, shame, shame...

[brat]

Disgusting! The man just cut off his nose to spite his face! BTTT

[DoughtyOne]

Taking action that costs him money seems like an honorable tactic to me, if he felt that strongly about it.

[KeyWest]

Scopes has this and I quote

According to a Vice-President at Marriott Resorts, Inc., the basic details are correct: the chairman of an Israel-based travel agency did indeed receive a letter sent by Marriott bearing an address of "Jerusalem, Occupied Palestinian Area." However, that address was not the product of a deliberate decision by Marriott's corporate offices -- the letter was generated by Marriott's automated reservation and commission system, and the addresses used by that system are obtained from the database of a Swiss organization which registers travel agents all over the world. Someone at the Swiss organization changed the designation for Jerusalem, and that change was automatically picked up by Marriott's computers. Obviously, Marriott doesn't have a corporate policy of designating Jerusalem as an "Occupied Palestinian Area," as the web page for their Renaissance Jerusalem Hotel clearly identifies it as being located in Jerusalem, Israel. Moreover, since Marriott has undertaken efforts in recent years to become a market leader in the hotel business in Israel, they would have to be nothing short of completely foolish to deliberately offend Israelis in this fashion. Marriott indicated that they would make strenuous efforts to get the Swiss organization to alter its designation for Jerusalem now that the matter has been called to their attention, and they acknowledged that they were remiss in not sending a timely letter of apology to the offended Israeli travel agent.

Suggest you check snopes for the rest of the story.

http://www.snopes.com/

[Diogenesis]

President Bush promised to recognize Jerusalem as the
capital of Israel but has not.

Instead, he is marching behind
Colin Powell and the Clintons who began the support of these
terrorists committed to the destruction of the United States.

When the telephone rings with a REAL plan to end terrorism,
and to bring Enduring Freedom and security to the United States of America,
you can be absolutely certain that it will NOT be Colin Powell on the line.

He is too busy running for VP of the US on the Democrat ticket
and for co-President of "Palestine".

When will you honor your promise, Mr. President?

[eagleninja]

President Bush promised to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel but has not. Instead, he is marching behind Colin Powell and the Clintons who began the support of these terrorists committed to the destruction of the United States.

Oh please...give me a break. Linking Bush and Powell with the Clintons is a joke. Getting hung up about a hotel address is a bigger joke. And finally, I have never hear a Palestinian call for the destruction of the USA. Please try to keep the issues straight or else Free Republic just becomes a forum for radical wackos. Thanks.

[MatthewViti]

IM SICK OF BUSH APOLOGISTS!!!! GO TO HELL

[KeyWest]

Wrong poster. You want diog...

[KeyWest]

Not a very reasoned response. This whole thing is over a not very well researched post. I am pro Israel but your kind of irrational outburst does little for the cause. Use your brain.

[lavaroise]

What self-worshiping slanderous condemners. And they claim Israel is occupying? They should just look at their own occupations and worships.

[Looking4Truth]

Dumbass statement of the day: "I always wondered about the 'Ramadan' Inns and how they got their name.

[chemainus]

all write Marriott....and I'm right now shredding my Marriott Rewards Card....disgraceful...and while we're at it, someone please tell me who gave the "palestinians" this land anyway as it was ceded to Israel in 1919 and many times thereafter ? please enlighten me...gone for awhile raising hell with Marriott... Hilton gets my business now...

[eagleninja]

I support Israel, but my president and my country come first!!!

[Nachum]

After getting burned on a different rumor, I have preferred to check with snopes.com or other sources first. It is a little strange that the Marriott did not respond to this ASAP since their business in Israel is substantial.

It is also a little strange that they have to lobby this Swiss organization to do anything about Marriott's own data base. Sounds more like "passing the buck" to me. I would like to with hold my judgement on this, but it really smells fishy.

What is the time frame on all of this? How long did it take for Marriott to do anything? Was it only after it was picked up by the media and spread all over the internet?

Perhaps it is a description of a company that could care less. Or worse.