Black Woman Sues Marriott For 300K Over Being Asked To Sign Discriminatory ‘No Party’ Policy Form
A Black woman is suing a hotel in Portland, Oregon, for $300,000 after she says the hotel singled her out because of her race when they asked her to sign a “no party policy.”
Felicia Gonzales, 51, said the front desk clerk at the Residence Inn by Marriott Portland Downtown/Convention Center told her all guests had to sign the policy, The Oregonian reports.
According to the lawsuit filed Monday (Dec. 30), Gonzales learned white guests were not required to sign the policy, The Oregonian reports.
RELATED: White Woman Calls New York Hotel Receptionist The N-Word And Spits At Her Because She Asked For ID
“Having to sign a “NO PARTY” Policy form did not feel right to Ms. Gonzales, so she went back to the front desk,” according to the lawsuit, The Oregonian reports. “Ms. Gonzales observed as multiple Caucasian guests checked in. None of them were asked to sign a “NO PARTY” Policy.”
In January 2019, Gonzales was visiting family in Portland, her hometown, where she lived her entire life before moving to California in October 2018, according to Kafoury & McDougal, the law firm representing her, The Oregonian reports.
According to her lawyers, she checked into the Residence Inn after making a 20-hour drive to Portland, The Oregonian reports.
Although Gonzales was a Marriott rewards member and “had never had a problem or noise complaint at any other Marriott hotel she had ever stayed at,” she signed the policy when asked “so she could get into her room” for a five-night stay, according to the lawsuit, The Oregonian reports.
She is seeking $300,000 for embarrassment, frustration, humiliation and “feelings of racial stigmatization,” according to the lawsuit, which also states it could later be amended to add $1 million in punitive damages, The Oregonian reports.
Marriott spokesman Jeff Flaherty told The Oregonian that the company doesn’t comment on pending lawsuits.
