 The Andaz is the Sunset Strip’s largest and newest hotel. WeHo News. |
Following up on a protest held in WeHo last month, Mayor Abbe Land and council member John Duran had initiated a resolution that called for the Sunset Strip’s largest and newest hotel to disaffiliate with Doug Manchester’s San Diego Manchester Grand Hyatt Hotel over a contribution made during the campaign for Proposition 8 made in 2008 by the building’s owner – and before the Sunset Strip hotel even opened.
The Andaz, as a subsidiary of the parent company, has no direct business association with Mr. Manchester, therefore the only options left open to Global Hyatt would be to 1) cease operations in San Diego (one of their most profitable locations), 2) spin the Andaz off as an independently-owned company or 3) close the Andaz.
The Andaz general manager Michel Morauw said he felt the resolution had a purely political motivation. “We at the Andaz feel we should be judged by the acts of the Andaz,” he said, “not [Doug Manchester’s].
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“There are no ties between Andaz [and Manchester Grand] except our parent company has a management agreement to operate in San Diego,” he said.
 Activists demanding that the Andaz sever ties with the San Diego hotel in April. Mr. Duran proposed the resolution at the insistence of the union and gay groups pressuring that hotel. Photo by WeHo News. |
He said that the options left to Andaz, given this resolution’s demands, were untenable, if not impossible, leaving him in an uncomfortable position.
He said he knew nothing about the operating contracts binding Hyatt Global and the San Diego hotel, and that compelling the selling or closing of the Andaz brand seemed draconian given Hyatt’s exemplary corporate behavior (Hyatt Global is considered a very gay-friendly business by most major human rights organizations).
“All of those options would not work,” he said. “We cannot here, in West Hollywood, do anything to satisfy the resolution’s requests.”
The genesis of the demands came when the owner of the building that Hyatt Hotels operates in San Diego (Hyatt owns the newly-opened Andaz) gave Yes On 8 forces $125,000 in late Spring last year.
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Scott Olin Schmidt, one of the city’s commissioners, rose to speak during public comments on resolutions, calling the Andaz resolution an undeserved and misguided attack on a hotel that can do nothing to satisfy the city’s demands.
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 Joe Clapsaddle, chair emeritus of the Weho Chamber of Commerce. WeHo News. |
“I do not think we should be attacking one of our businesses, asking them to do something they are unable to do,’ he said, noting that Mr. Manchester and Hyatt have a franchise agreement through 2038, and that Andaz has no direct ties to that hotel.
Joe Clapsaddle, chair emeritus of the West Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, said, “I don’t think the city can do anything but send a letter, and I’m not sure what signal that sends to one of our businesses…” that has supported gay and lesbian causes.
Calling the resolution “an obvious slap in the face of the business,” he asked the council to carefully consider the consequences of doing so.
Mayor Land, the council member who placed the item on the agenda, took pains to offer kudos to the Andaz, saying, “I think the Andaz Hyatt has been an extraordinarily good corporate citizen here in West Hollywood.”
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Despite the resolution’s wording, she claimed that the item was not an attack on the Andaz but an attempt to begin a dialogue with the parent company.
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Council member Jeff Prang pulled the item from the consent calendar for discussion after the meeting’s other business, saying that, “I support the direction you’re taking…but is it fair to really point out the Andaz and connect them to Doug Manchester if they have no ability to influence [him] or have no connection.
“I don’t want to hold somebody accountable for something they’re not accountable for,” he said.
Council member Duran attempted to diminish the point of controversy by pointing out that, “in eight Whereases there is nothing here that the Andaz is opposed to, if anything there is the one word – disaffiliate – which is the only thing that we’re asking them to do.”
Walking past the potential tribulations facing any business asked to sell itself off or shut itself down at the city’s whim, Mr. Duran said, “We’re not looking for a boycott or any punishment or penalty of the Andaz.”
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 Mayor Pro Tem John Heilman. Photo by WeHo News. |
Mayor Pro Tem John Heilman said, “There are problems with this item in certain respects.”
He said, “Calling on Andaz to disaffiliate assumes that there is an affiliation. I share Jeff’s concern that we’re slapping our local business for a purported affiliation that they don’t have.”
With that, Mr. Duran suggested that the council change the resolution from compelling a change in business model to requesting the Andaz’s cooperation in changing Mr. Manchester’s attitude.
The resolution moved forward with a call to Hyatt Global and the Andaz to persuade Doug Manchester to mend his ways.
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