U.S. Sues Hotel Chain, Charges Racial Bias

Federal officials filed suit Thursday against a national hotel chain, accusing Adam’s Mark Hotels and Resorts of discriminating against black lodgers by placing them in less desirable rooms and charging them higher rates than those offered white guests.

“This kind of behavior is simply unacceptable,” Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said at a news conference announcing the action. “It is hard to believe that 35 years after the Civil Rights Act was passed by Congress, this type of discrimination still exists.”

Officials at Adam’s Mark headquarters in St. Louis declined to comment directly on the federal charges but protested any characterization of the company as racist.

The lawsuit stems from complaints by five black professionals in their 20s, who said that officials at the chain’s Daytona Beach, Fla., hotel required them to purchase and wear orange wrist bands during their stay in April for the Black College Reunion, an annual gathering of black college graduates that has attracted an estimated 100,000 to the Florida beach resort for nearly two decades.

In their complaint, they alleged that the hotel insisted black guests attending the weekend gathering pay $25 for the neon-like wristbands and that uniformed security guards repeatedly checked them before allowing entry into the hotel. The complaint states that white guests at the hotel during the weekend or during similar large gatherings were not treated in the same way.

Additionally, the plaintiffs said that they had to carry their own bags from the parking lot to their rooms, which appeared to have been “stripped down,” without pictures on the walls and lacking maid service.

The lawsuit has grown into a class-action case that may include thousands of plaintiffs across the nation. Adam’s Mark operates 21 luxury hotels in 14 states, none in California.

The suit comes amid intense scrutiny of the nation’s hospitality industry in the wake of large settlements in specific cases of racial bias. Officials of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People have issued a report card that cites several hotel chains for failing to hire and promote minority employees and for refusing to purchase goods and services from minority vendors.

In response, some industry officials have attempted to seek new approaches aimed at portraying themselves in a more positive fashion with minority groups.

Tia Gordon, a spokeswoman for the American Hotel and Motel Assn., said that the Washington-based trade association has formed two task forces to increase diversity in hiring and to market hotels to black and other minority groups. “We’re trying to give the consumer a more positive image. Sometimes it may seem slow in coming, but that’s what we are doing.”

But critics said that the best of corporate intentions are ruined by racist actions.

Florida Atty. Gen. Bob Butterworth stood next to Reno at the news conference to announce that his state also has filed a motion to become a plaintiff in the suit.

Fred S. Kummer, founder and CEO of HBE Corp., the Adam’s Mark parent company, said in an interview Thursday before the Justice Department announcement that he was unaware of the federal suit. “I suspect they are doing that for political reasons, not to get to the truth of the matter.” He added that he would have more to say after reading the lawsuit.

But calls to his office later in the day were referred to a law office in Philadelphia, which released a company statement lamenting the federal move and denying racism. “We believe that, when the [Justice] Department’s investigations are finally concluded, Adam’s Mark . . . will be completely exonerated from the allegations in the complaint,” the statement said. “Our conduct has reflected no bias with regard to race or ethnicity and our actions were consistent with those employed by other leading lodging companies across the U.S.”

However, Assistant Atty. Gen. Bill Lann Lee disputed that claim, noting that the Justice Department’s civil rights office has presented Adam’s Mark officials with evidence suggesting a pattern of racial bias directed mainly at African American guests.

John P. Relman, a Washington attorney representing the five lead plaintiffs, said that negotiations between his clients and the hotel firm “reached an impasse” about two weeks ago.