Luxury hotel chain suspends social media account after owner announces death penalty for homosexuality
Dorchester Collection has disabled all of its social media accounts following a torrent of online abuse after its owner, Brunei’s Sultan Hassanal Bolkaih, introduced the death penalty by stoning for adultery and homosexuality in his home country.
The operator of the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air in the US said it had come offline to protect its employees from ‘personal abuse’.
A celebrity-led boycott of the hotels has been gaining traction in Hollywood with chat-show host Ellen DeGeneres, singer Elton John and actress Sharon Stone backing actor George Clooney’s call to stay away from the hotels.
Both the Beverly Hills Hotel and Hotel Bel-Air are popular celebrity hangouts and often host A-list events for the Hollywood set. Some planned events have already been moved to other hotels.
The hotel chain also has several iconic hotels in Europe, including The Dorchester and 45 Park Lane in London and Coworth Park in Ascot.
The Dorchester Collection maintains its stance as an ‘inclusive and diverse company’. It posted the following tweet:
A hotel boycott is not likely affect the Sultan’s wealth. Oil and gas-rich Brunei Darussalam is one of the top five richest countries in the world, despite only having a population of about 500,000.
However, an international backlash is already gathering steam and it spells disaster for its recently rebooted focus on attracting more foreign tourists.
Ads have been pulled and interline agreements with Royal Brunei Airlines have already been shelved. Today, youth travel specialist STA Travel announced it had stopped selling flights on Royal Brunei Airlines’ flights and it is offering customers who have already bought tickets through STA and want to cancel a full refund.
STA said: "We’re proud of our open and diverse culture and we expect our partners to demonstrate the same. We do not support in any way the laws being introduced in Brunei (including on Brunei-registered aircraft and vessels). Because of this we have stopped selling Royal Brunei Airlines flights.
"We’ve taken this stance to add our voice to the calls on Brunei to reverse this change in the law and in support of LGBTQi people everywhere."
Three years ago the Brunei government made the public celebration of Christmas a crime, with up to five years in prison for offenders. About 20% of Brunei’s population are non-Muslims.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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