Saw this absolutely disgusting screed today from the American Hotel Lobby Association (yeah, that’s a thing). I have some friends in a network who gets these and others, and I wanted to share with folks here too.
This is a real thing that is happening. This is what giving corporations a voice looks like. This is what neoliberal democracy is; organizations grouping together to build lobbying groups that advocate strongly for keeping homeless on the streets (and other horrible things of course).
I dunno I get these sorts of things pretty often, I can certainly share more of these if people want. They make me sad and angry every time I see them. I like to show these to libs to remind them that this is what the democracy that they swear by looks like.
Real Omelas vibes
Sounds like hotels that are represented by this group need a few bricks through windows.
American Hotel Lobby Association but it’s just a body that sets the dimensions and amenities required in the lobby of a hotel.
This is weird for me because here in NYC you get a lot of hotels that open up with no intention of being hotels, they immediately lobbying the City to pay them to house homeless people in them. Of course, there’s always a horde of reactionaries who come out to oppose them, but it is interesting how the particulars can shift the interests of the capitalist class.
the hotel lobby is the perfect microcosm of capitalism. faux welcoming, highly exclusive propertarianism. heavily surveilled and policed. food, drink, bathrooms, and comfortable areas abound but only for those who belong. constantly tidied by an invisible underclass. overseen by a well-dressed functionary generally harboring the most vicious stereotypes in their mind and challenging anyone not fitting the mold with an implied threat of arrest for trespass.
if you don’t look like an obviously rich patron, they are up your ass about why you are sitting in a chair within a few minutes. i fuckin’ hate waiting in the lobby for someone, even if i am staying at the hotel. the entire vibe is always “get the fuck out”.