As if being huge hypocrites isn’t notorious enough, the three Raleigh hoteliers about whom I blogged on September 21st are now suing Durham, apparently under the guise of the six member Hospitality Alliance.
Remember, these are the folks who gave their hometown a pass when it purchased the land ( in reality an equity position) to get a hotel built next to a mega-center. The trio has also played dumb as fence posts as their home city stokes a fund with half a billion to “pay” planners to host events in the two facilities, using tax revenue collected by lodging properties throughout that community.
Oh my, but now these brave souls want to come down on Durham, with a ton of bricks, for doing something far more conservative and thoughtful and without using taxes collected by other hotels here. Their misunderstanding of Durham’s action is supposedly what gave the three whiners a heartburn in the first place.
They were identified by the Durham Herald-Sun from a letter over their signatures as Bob Winston, Doyle Parish and Roddy Jones. Carrying the water for the three is lobbyist Jim Hobbs, a former Raleigh hotelier.
Maybe I’m being unfair and the three have been ignorant of what goes on under their noses in Raleighville. Or maybe they just didn’t want to crap where they eat and feel safer messing around with Durham instead. Or maybe, just maybe, the three are peeved that overcoming their resistance Durham long ago transcended Raleigh as a distinct visitor destination.
Or maybe Mr. Winston who serves as chairman of the UNC at Chapel Hill Board of Trustees and also has a hotel in Chapel Hill is just trying to distract folks in the hometown of its nemesis, the reigning and four-time national champion Duke University on the eve of basketball season?
Mr. Parrish owns a hotel in the Southpoint District of Durham which was also incentivized by Durham and now recognized as one of the best in the nation. I wonder if he will sue over that as well?
Mr. Jones owns the Sheraton Imperial Hotel & Convention Center in the southeast corner of the city which is aggressively promoted by the Durham Convention & Visitors Bureau. I wonder if he is going to sue another Raleigh resident who recently misrepresented a national convention in that part of Durham as being held “in Raleigh.”
I also wonder if Mr. Hobbs, who manages the six member alliance, will sue Durham for hosting the touring Broadway musical Billy Elliott in a downtown facility which is truly subsidized by up to $1.4 million annually from a tax collected on Durham hotels or would that step on the toes of another Raleigh resident?
Come on boys…get out of Durham’s face…if you really feel that strongly, start with suing your home town of Raleigh where there are definitely grounds, rather than trying to beat Durham down for doing something far better and wiser.
1 comment:
Thankfully most of the hotels in Durham steered clear of getting involved in this. Yes, to the small-minded, a new hotel is competition. However, the ppl I work with (who shall remain nameless) understand what is good for durham is good for all the hotels / facilities in durham. Many of us are thankful you are banging this drum.
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