I have many times. Its actually my favorite hotel chain. I've now stayed at three different locations (Laguna, Miami & Boston), and I'll be at the one in San Francisco in May. When I say that the serivce in the hotels is perfect, that is no joke. It can actually be a bit creepy however....I'll give you an example.

The first one I stayed at was in Boston (love the city by the way). From the moment that I got out of the car, it was perfect. They knew everything they needed to know about me from some great questions and their observations. While checking out, they asked if I was thirsty. I said that I was, and asked for an ice tea. It was there in a heartbeat. While all this was going on, they took off with my bags. They noticed that one was a gym bag, so they had all the gym stuff pointed out for me and all that. When I got to the room, my bags were already placed in such a manner that they could be unpacked easily.

Oh, and they had all the different places to eat around the hotel on a map for me (I mentioned that I was in the mood for a walk & was hungry). And the absolutely best part....there was a chilled caraf of ice tea (complete with lemon & mint) waiting for me. This was a constant thing too...it was always in my room when I came back, and it was always on ice.

Now here's where it gets creapy....when I went to the locations at Laguna & Miami...when I got to the room...there was chilled ice tea waiting for me...along with a map of places to walk to and eat there around the hotel. I kid you not.

So when this article says it was in their computer system about their behavior, I'm not the least bit suprised. And honestly, I'm not suprised that the hotel actually tried to keep their business, even if they (as a policy) do not agree with their belief system. As per the specific issues here....where would a company draw the line? There is a world of difference between someone making racist remarks directly to an employee, or abusing them verbally/physically/whatever wise while under their roof and "requesting" particular servers.

Where does a company draw the line? They only allow pro-life guests? They only allow those who are extremely liberal progressives? As much as I find it distasteful that they would judge the people on their accent/physical appearance, I find it difficult to say "toss them out."

[p.s.- The best part of my stays at the Ritz-Carlton...it was on the company dime! oh yeah.... and the ice tea is good.]

~Jeordam