My wife and I arrived at the Hyatt on Saturday, at about 4:00pm. Unfortunately, no protesters were still out there. We walked all around the hotel, but saw nobody. So we decided that since we were in the middle of nowhere and hadn't eaten, and since we needed to call a taxi, we would go into the hotel and see if there was a restaraunt and payphone.

As we approached the front door, we were surrounded by police. When they learned that we had arrived looking for protesters, they asked to see identification and recorded our names, then informed us that we were on private property and had to leave. We told them we intended to eat and use the phone, but they said we weren't welcome there and Hyatt didn't want us there for any reason. They told us we had to go to a parking lot across the street, that the road had to be between us and the Hyatt, and then they escorted us off the property. We saw three police vehicles, and four officers spoke with us and another two sat in an SUV nearby. While leaving, we asked the police where a phone or somewhere to eat was, and they indicated that a small business area with phones and food was just up the road around a curve -- and we twice pointed in the direction they indicated to be sure we went the right way, and they confirmed that it was supposedly the correct direction.

We crossed the road and while we stood there, the SUV pulled across the road and sat in the parking lot behind us to watch us. We finally decided that we should set out on foot for the business area the police told us about, and we walked in the direction they had indicated. Alas, it was a long road through a residential area with no businesses or restaraunts or phones at all. We arrived at an intersection at a 6-lane highway or interstate, and there was no median or sidewalk or anywhere safe to walk. So we had no idea how we could get back to the Metro, and we had no choice but to stand at the intersection and hope that we could flag down a taxi as it sped by.

We got lucky after about 20 minutes and a taxi actually swerved over onto the side of the road to pick us up, and after we explained what had happened to us and that we tried to protest a neo-nazi convention, the driver took us to the airport and told us the ride was free.

It was a rather frustrating day, not only because of all that happened at the Hyatt, but also because the trip there took about two-and-a-half hours, as did the return trip. We were also disappointed that no protesters remained (the police actually told us that the last protesters had left by 2 or 3 in the afternoon, an hour before we finally got there).

Now, a few points to consider about Hyatt.

First, a Hyatt representative has been quoted in news articles as saying the hotel doesn't discriminate against guests/conferences/whatever based on the views of the guests. Well, that's an outright lie. Hyatt explicitly refused to do business with anyone who opposed the conference, anyone who was ANTI-Nazi. They said we were not welcome, even when in the case of my wife and I we ended up not being able to join the protests and so would merely have been "customers" -- so it was our VIEWS, our opposition to the conference, which was the sole factor in Hyatt's apparent disdain for us and for their decision to refuse service to us. Hyatt was only interested in doing business with those who FAVOR the viewpoint of Nazis, period. Nobody else was welcome. We were SO unwelcome, in fact, that Hyatt called the cops to act as the hotel's own private security force and to find and evict anyone (including customers) who disagreed with Nazism.

This brings up an important side point -- nobody from the Hyatt spoke with my wife an I, nobody from the Hyatt determined our views and made any decision about whether we were "unwelcome" or not and nobody from the Hyatt itself actually accused us of "trespassing". The police were given full authority by the hotel to stop and interogate anyone on the property and order people off depending upon the person's views. Well, can the police take it upon themselves to act as enforcers of tresspass laws in any OTHER circumstances? Can just ANYONE call the police and tell the cops to routinely patrol their private property and stop and question anyone at their whim, and to expell anyone with specific viewpoints? In other words, were the police at the Hyatt even acting legally when they walked around and stopped people and told them they weren't welcome on the property, if no Hyatt security personel were there to make a determination of any sort? Can my neighbors and I (who all share similar viewpoints) call the police and tell them to patrol our apartment complex, and (acting on our behalf) to run off anyone with rightwing viewpoints (if we theoretically own the property)?

Okay, a second point is that Hyatt does NOT have a standard policy granting discounts like the one given to the neo-nazis. We called the Hyatt last night, and were informed that there is NO guaranteed discount for conference attendees or group rates etc. So Hyatt did in fact offer a special deal to the nazis, worked out with them in private, to grant them special rates not necessarily granted to other groups and conferences. The nazis got roughly a 16% discount (the Hyatt informed us the regular rate is $99, and the nazis paid $84 per room). So Hyatt cannot pretend that this was not an example of special treatment for nazis, or that all groups get standard discounts or the like.

As a private business, with private property, Hyatt can and does make determination about who they are willing to do business with based strictly upon that person or group's beliefs (as with ANTI-nazis). Hyatt decided that it values the views and money of nazis more than anti-nazis, and they decided further that they would work out a special discount deal for nazis that does not apply to regular guests or even to all other groups and conferences. Further, Hyatt has publicly lied by claiming that they don't refuse to do business based upon people's or groups' beliefs.

As a business, Hyatt made these decisions and chose to stick with them despite getting numerous calls of complaint from the public, numerous complaints from guests, and negative media attention in advance and during the conference. So we, the public, have every right and responsibility to decide not only to refuse to give Hyatt our business, but also to spread the word about Hyatt's business practices and to encourage others to complain to Hyatt and to refuse to give Hyatt their business. We should all also contact the Fairfax Police Department to complain about public services being supplied as a private security force for a corporation. I would like to know how many rapes, burglaries, assaults, etc took place while a large group of police were used for weekend patroling of private property (remember, the police told my wife and I that there'd been no protesters around for two hours when we arrived, yet there were still several police vehicles and officers -- it took six cops and three vehicles just for the TWO of us!).