Why The Beverly Hills Hotel Boycott is Bulls#it By: Meena Dimian
When I first moved to Los Angeles, few landmarks stood out to me as classic or “legendary.” Rodeo Drive seemed like a commercial fabrication and the Walk Of Fame struck me as a little cheap, shabby, and ill maintained. One of the more sterling examples of LA’s never-ending landscape was the pink hotel on Sunset Boulevard that stands out as a beacon of understated opulence in the world’s most desirable zip code, The Beverly Hills Hotel.
After years of clamoring for an agent to represent me, I was lucky enough to be invited on several occasions to the hotel’s famous Polo Lounge for brunches, dinners and after hours drinks. The building feels like a portal. A pathway to another era of glamour and prestige. The pink-infused décor, the dignified staff and the whole spirit of the place speaks to every little fantasy you’d have about an old Hollywood that is still alive, here. Nestled in a foothill, the light that hits the patio of The Polo Lounge is unique. It has warmth like the California sun you’d expect, but the pinkish tint that surrounds it lends itself to delight you in the same way it did Marilyn, Elvis and Chaplin on so many brunches before yours. The lobby, like the rooms, is elegant without being overwhelming. The pool, the bungalows and the grounds feel like part of a heavenly retreat plucked out from the historical serenity of these hills, just for you.
The 100-year-old hotel is more than a pit stop for tourists and wealthy businessmen. It serves as a home to countless iconic performers, legendary talents, and plays a pivotal role in the local economy. Whether or not you’re the star struck type, popping into The Polo Lounge or meeting a friend in the lobby usually leads to some memorable elbow rubbing – but where is the value in that? The Beverly Hills Hotel is a landmark because of what it does for the city, its residents, and the industry it thrives on. By its location alone, it plays as a crossroad to eras of American glamour and legendary entertainment that is being flushed out and cheapened with every passing year. It maintains its appeal as the place to be in Beverly Hills and will always be held in regard as a part of old Hollywood that is still tangible and real. Unmatched appeal, fit for a king.
In 1987 the property was sold to the Sultan of Brunei and is now managed by The Dorchester Collection (of which the Sultan owns a majority share) along with its sister hotel in nearby Bel-Air. Recently, the Sultan passed a decree (in accordance with sharia law) that would allow for the death penalty by stoning to those who were found guilty of adultery or homosexual acts in Brunei. Barbaric. In response to the passing of said law, many industry leaders have voiced their concern and called for a boycott along with LGBT organizations, who have spent countless amounts of donated funding to arrange protests and advertise against The Beverly Hills Hotels and its parent company.
At first glance, this seems like the suitable reaction. King owns hotel, king doesn’t recognize basic human rights, we abandon hotel, king gets stuck with the bill – right? Wrong. Sadly, The Dorchester Collection is far from a mom and pop operation that the poor Sultan manages to “scrape by" on. It is a mere drop in the bucket of this tiny nation’s massive GDP. 90% of the Sultan’s never-ending wealth is based in something we’ve been buying from him for years - you guessed it, oil. So what does this mean for our beloved local landmark?
What people are overlooking is who boycotting the hotel really hurts. If the Sultan loses a few million on one of his ten Dorchester Properties, he probably won’t notice. To be honest, he probably won’t even know, given that The Dorchester Collection is owned by The Brunei Investment company of which the hotel group is merely a bauble floating in billions of gallons of dependable crude. That’s right, all those full page ads, and public demonstrations were totally in vain – as far as the Sultan is concerned. So who is actually paying the price?
In the beginning of this piece I mentioned the property’s dignified staff. These professionals whom I’ve grown to know and love over the last few years carry an air of respect and honor that I’ve rarely seen in hospitality, even after having traveled through five continents. These aren’t billionaire kings in far off island countries, these are wives, fathers, friends and local Los Angeles residents who make their living serving the very community that is unabashedly abandoning them now. These people are proud and talented at their jobs. They represent the American workforce, and more than that, they represent a city and its industry. The valet that’s writing his epic script between shifts, the concierge who moved to the west coast to start a new life and the chef that hoped switching jobs to a more prestigious property would mean extra college money for his unexpectedly ivy-league daughter. These people are citizens like you. They don’t practice sharia law, they don’t stone people and they work to serve you, not the king.
Sadly, these organizations and media figures that think the Sultan will “back down” or “change his ways” are horribly misled. The metaphorical bent nickel that they’ve kept from Brunei’s leader won’t be keeping him or his religious council up at night. I was truly saddened to see so many respected industry members rally behind such a futile and perspective-lacking cause. If you want to voice your protest against leaders like the Sultan of Brunei (that’s right, there are bigger fish to fry here, see: every other oil-bearing nation) and his sword-wielding goons, use that money and influence to support human rights agencies that fight intolerance all over the planet, not just in one tiny nation that has a population that barely makes up 10% of Los Angeles. You can’t drive your air conditioned SUV back and forth from Malibu to Burbank on Brunei’s oil, but skip lunch at The Polo Lounge and “call it even.”
Our city’s beloved landmark has been tarnished by a rash and unwarranted action taken by shortsighted people, trying to prove a point. What happened to looking out for our own? Do people really think this will “show him?” You can’t hurt conglomerate heads at the consumer level. The sad truth is when pivotal locales like The Beverly Hills hotel suffer, the city suffers, the employees suffer and the industry carrying them suffers. To stand up for a cause effectively, people need to understand what they’re fighting against. You can’t take down an ideology by moving your Oscar party from one hotel to another. Why burn down a century of history when the culprit won’t even bat an eye? We’re the ones bound to lose in this equation. We lose a cultural landmark, hurt our friends and neighbors, and more importantly, we lose the birthplace of so much art and countless legendary tales that make this town what it is.
Los Angeles, support the people that have supported you for over 100 years with loyalty and respect. The hard-working dedicated staff at the pink hotel, just down the street.