Amid the passing of an anti-LGBTQAI+ rule by the Sultan of Brunei, an international outcry to boycott the luxury hotels that he owns has gained mass support. The law has essentially made same-sex relations punishable by death, via stoning. The sultan owns 9 luxury hotels across USA and Europe.
The likes of George Clooney, Elton John and Ellen DeGeneres have taken to their social media platforms to condemn the law and to call on the public to think twice about supporting these hotels.
The list of hotels included in the group are:
– Hotel Bel-Air in Los Angeles, USA
– The Beverly Hills Hotel in Beverly Hills, USA
– The Dorchester in London, UK
– 45 Park Lane in London, UK
– Coworth Park in Ascot, UK
– Le Meurice in Paris, France
– Hotel Plaza Athenee in Paris, France
– Hotel Eden in Rome, Italy
– Hotel Principe di Savoia in Milan, Italy
The social media pages of each hotel have become inaccessible across various social media platforms. Although not every account has been deleted, eight of the accounts have been deleted or deactivated on Twitter.
Hotel Principle de Savoia in Italy is on “protected”, meaning it is still present on the website, but the tweets cannot be viewed.
The Instagram accounts of all but three of the hotels have been deactivated or deleted. Le Meurice and Hôtel Plaza Athénée in France and Hotel Eden in Rome switched to “private” preventing people from viewing the posts.
The boycott has taken effect all across the world with Virgin Australia ending a deal with Brunei’s national carrier.
TripAdvisor has banned reviews of the hotels on its platform, but Yelp is still allowing people to post reviews. As a result of the backlash, Dorchester Collection – the company managing the nine hotels – released a statement on their website saying: “We do not tolerate any form of discrimination.”
All eight hotels have been made inaccessible on Facebook. Attempting to view their pages presents an error message.
Tomorrow, the country of #Brunei will start stoning gay people to death. We need to do something now. Please boycott these hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei. Raise your voices now. Spread the word. Rise up. pic.twitter.com/24KJsemPGH
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) April 2, 2019
In protest at recent changes to the law in Brunei (also applicable on Brunei-registered aircraft and vessels), we’re proud to announce that STA Travel has stopped selling tickets on Royal Brunei Airlines. #bruneiboycott
— STA Travel Australia (@statravelAU) April 5, 2019
We must send a message, however we can, that such treatment is unacceptable. That’s why David and I have long refused to stay at these hotels and will continue to do so.
We hope you will join us in solidarity.
— Elton John (@eltonofficial) March 30, 2019
Image source: Twitter @bkonthescene
