A Marriott hotel in Atlanta is being sued for kicking a woman with a reservation out of the property because she wouldn’t pay extra to stay on a “swinger’s floor.”
She had booked a 3 night New Years Eve stay but was asked for more money “for being on a floor that had been completely booked by Swingers of Atlanta.”
The woman, who claims to have booked her stay through normal channels, refused and “was allegedly led out in handcuffs in her pajamas after police were called.”
Lewis claims she went through the normal process of booking a room, and says the hotel had no right to kick her out — let alone get cops involved. The lawsuit doesn’t say specifically what she did, but we’re guessing she pitched a fit after being told to leave. She says she was taken out in her PJ’s.
She also claims the whole incident ruined her rep, so she’s asking for damages.
Here’s the lawsuit. Aimbridge Hospitality is named in the suit. While articles reference the Atlanta Marriott Northwest the only Marriott property they appear to own in Georgia is the Residence Inn Atlanta Gwinnett Place. So that’s a bit strange.
Residence Inn Atlanta Gwinnett Place
However the alleged incidents took place on the hotel’s fifth floor and that property doesn’t appear to have five stories. Someone with Pacer access can presumably pull up the suit and identify the property.
Best I can figure she was assigned to the ‘swingers floor’ — the floor set aside for guests ‘participating’ in swinger activities because the hotel believed she had booked her reservation with their group discount, although she denies this. It’s the group that insisted she be removed from the floor since she didn’t want to pay and join in their activities, and the hotel wouldn’t accommodate her in another room.
The claims in the suit though, if true, are shocking.
[She] then entered her room to shower and when she got out, she found two security guards inside staring at her as she stood naked, according to the lawsuit. She yelled at the guards while trying to cover her naked body before confronting them to see why they were inside her room.
According to the lawsuit, [a man with the Swingers group] then confronted [her] with one of the security guards saying that he wanted her removed from the room that she booked because she ‘refused to participate in the group activities’ related to the Swingers of Atlanta. The hotel security guard apparently agreed with Brent, despite the fact she informed him she was assigned the room by the hotel front desk clerk. [She] then asked them to leave her room and shut the door.
While calling to speak with the front desk over the issue, two Cobb County Police Department officers and two hotel security guards entered her room along with Brent without probable cause. The officers, which included Cobb County Police Chief Michael Register, did not identify themselves prior to entry, and did not have an arrest warrant or search warrant authorizing their conduct, the lawsuit claims.
For a wholesome company founded by a Mormon family, Marriott sure has some hinky stuff going on.
(HT: Brian B.)
The article to which you linked cites that the incident allegedly occurred at the Atlanta Marriott Northwest in Cobb County off Interstate 75 — which definitely has a fifth floor, as I have been there — and not the Residence Inn Atlanta Gwinnett Place in Gwinnett County, Gary.
Seems like a suspect complaint at best. She’s almost certainly puffing the story up a bit
@Brian …. What kind of event were you there for?
What is wrong with this world? Charging extra in order to swing or sleep around? Man, oh man. You get charged a fee for every damn thing now.
Did you mean kinky instead of hunky? LOL
Although I’ve never swung, I thought single females were usually not charged a fee at these things
If participation is required, the hotel could be in serious legal trouble for human trafficking. The group rate code complicates their explanation. I would also be suspicious of hidden cameras.
Seems like a hotel trump would own, before running it to the ground.
Another factoid: the arresting officer included Cobb County Police Chief Michael Register. Not two random officers, but the police chief himself. I would not count on an honest or credible investigation into her side of the story. Anyway, she was told she would have to pay and participate or leave. Or in this case be arrested. Participation crosses the legal line. But I wouldn’t count on a fair trial. I bet she is up against some of the most important politicians, judges, and lawyers in Atlanta and Cobb County given the revelations over the last year of Hollywood moguls and long time politicians.
Oh, by the way, the hallway is a public space, so any lewd activity there may be criminal. I am sure that is why the Police Chief was in the area. Marriott’s argument that they simply wanted their room back was negated when additional payment and participation became required by someone with enough pull that the hotel honored their request and had the customer arrested.
I never thought of Marriott as an hourly rate clientele chain.
Marriott should have settled this and the Police Chief should be investigated (as should many politicians).
More racist click-bait from socialist, quasi-KKK, democrat Gary Leff. Click the “lawsuit”, they want to charge you $50 to read it. This “blog” has to be shut down. in reality it is just a fatso posing as a journalist with other writers to tax evade.
@SadStateofOurCountry_Boy – I do not think you know what a socialist is. Tell me what information you have about my tax returns?
@Bill — I was not there to attend an event; and no, I am not a “swinger”, in case you were wondering. Rather, I booked a stay at that hotel before moving to the Atlanta area when I was still based in the northeastern United States.
Atlanta Marriott Northwest is an older hotel property located within the Interstate North office park, which includes companies — such as the headquarters of The Weather Channel — and restaurants; and directly across Interstate 75 from the new SunTrust Park where the Atlanta Braves play.
I think sometimes Gary logs out, then logs back in as SadStateofOurCountry just to create discord and clicks.
Nobody has at least 7 different partial thoughts expressed in 2 sentences. C’mon, Gary, admit it, it’s not a real person.
@losingtrader, you said, “Nobody has at least 7 different partial thoughts expressed in 2 sentences.” You’ve obviously never read any of Donald Trump’s Twitter feed…
Chief Register wasn’t employed by Cobb county at the time of the incident, so not sure how he could have been involved.
He wasn’t hired until June of this year.
@Rick, Hopefully, I didn’t fall for Fake News, but the website: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5218947/Woman-sues-Marriott-swingers-room-incident.html references the lawsuit which specifically states the Police Chief Michael Register was one of the arresting officers at the scene.
But, since the current Police Chief Michael Register was not hired until mid-2017, that article is probably wrong. Why am I not surprised?
It is interesting that she wasn’t arrested for trespassing after being removed from the hotel. I wonder if she was given a partial or full refund. Anything less than full would indicate she was ejected for cause. But, without the arrest being for trespassing, it indicates the hotel did not think she was trespassing, but that they needed her room and needed to unwind the transaction. And they used law enforcement to enforce a civil contract, not arrest a trespassing violator. She was arrested for disorderly conduct (dismissed) and obstruction of a law enforcement officer (convicted and under appeal). If the department is smart, they will not challenge her appeal.
Another thought: the nature of the group and the nature of the fact that they needed the entire floor lends credibility to a suspicion that lewd behavior occurred in a public hallway, or a common area. The building code and fire department is responsible for that hallway, and it is not a private area like a suite room or conference room. If this entire incident was caused because Marriott needed to protect the fifth floor from public view (or protect the public from viewing the fifth floor as is more likely the case), then they have a thing or two to learn regarding hotel accommodations. They can apply for the appropriate licenses from the Cobb County Adult Entertainment Regulators (or Zoning commission), but underage customers would be restricted from the entire building. An Adults Only Marriott… could become a separate brand.
Anyway, this helps to set a minimum standard for the Cobb County Commissioners and the new Police Chief, that police officers do not need to protect the Adult Entertainment establishments from their customers, nor arrest fully paid hotel customers in their pajamas when the hotel is not willing to pursue a legitimate trespassing charge. Why does the police department have more skin in the game than the hotel (no pun intended). Never, never, never, in a case such as this should a state prosecutor have to rely upon an obstruction of law enforcement charge when the victim is perfectly capable of asserting their rights. This is BAD news for Cobb County. The new police director needs to make sure the department and his officers are squeaky clean and this practice is actively deterred.
One final thought: Always engage the manual door lock when you aren’t sharing the room or you are the last one in. Those electronic locks aren’t perfect, sometimes the door doesn’t close all the way, whatever, and you can’t trust every hotel employee with a master key.
Maybe if this hotel had a Resort Fee this all could have been avoided when she checked in.
Of course that would be racist and Trumps fault naturally.