Room With a View Isn’t Clients’ Idea

Holiday Inn is checking all 1,700 of its hotels for peepholes, a reaction to lawsuits filed by guests who contend that they were spied on.

“This condition is not widespread,” spokesman Bob Gibbons said. “A single instance of it is one too many, however.”

The inspection comes after guests of Holiday Inns in South Carolina and Tennessee found peepholes in their rooms and sued.

In February, a South Carolina jury awarded five Holiday Inn guests $10 million, although a judge reduced that to $500,000.

Earlier this year, Marilyn Heaton and her 18-year-old daughter, Tara, filed suit, seeking unspecified damages, after they discovered peepholes in their room at the Holiday Inn South in Cleveland, Tenn.

“The only reason for the peephole being there is for employees of the hotel to watch people undressing, showering or involved in sexual intercourse,” said lawyer Jerry Summer, who represents the Heatons.

Holiday Inn said the hotels that were sued are franchises operated by small businessmen, not the corporation itself.