Hotel boycott against Sharia law expands, losses hit $1.5 million
Wednesday, 7 May 2014 | 6:40 PM ET
CNBC.com
Source: The Dorchester Collection
The Beverly Hills Hotel.
The introduction of Sharia law in the Brunei continued to ripple to the shores of California
on Wednesday as the oil-rich nation's ownership of the iconic Beverly
Hills Hotel resulted in business cancellations amounting to at least
$1.5 million.
"The impact has been predominately in the local events business where those have been canceled and we're up to probably about $1.5 million so far, but we can weather the storm. We're very, very much larger than that," Dorchester Collection CEO Christopher Cowdray told CNBC.
"If you take the global perspective of this city, we're not the only hotel or establishment or business that is owned by a country which has Sharia laws," he said. "There's so many hotels, banks and other organizations that have connections to countries which have this type of law."
Boycotts by celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Stephen Fry, Sharon Osbourne, Virgin CEO Richard Branson and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg were elevated as Los Angeles' mayor and city attorney joined in. Several organizations said they were canceling major events scheduled at the hotels owned by a branch of the Brunei government.
"The impact has been predominately in the local events business where those have been canceled and we're up to probably about $1.5 million so far, but we can weather the storm. We're very, very much larger than that," Dorchester Collection CEO Christopher Cowdray told CNBC.
"If you take the global perspective of this city, we're not the only hotel or establishment or business that is owned by a country which has Sharia laws," he said. "There's so many hotels, banks and other organizations that have connections to countries which have this type of law."
Boycotts by celebrities including Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Stephen Fry, Sharon Osbourne, Virgin CEO Richard Branson and Dreamworks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg were elevated as Los Angeles' mayor and city attorney joined in. Several organizations said they were canceling major events scheduled at the hotels owned by a branch of the Brunei government.
Hollywood stars boycott famed Beverly Hills hotel
CNBC's Morgan Brennan interviews the Dorchester
Group CEO Christopher Cowdray about the hotel's owner, the Sultan of
Brunei, who recently instituted an extreme form of Islamic law (Sharia)
in his country.
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