Do You Have A Reservation?

From the San Jose Mercury

Hotel chain asks Katrina evacuees to leave HOLBROOK MOHR Associated Press

BROOKHAVEN, Miss.At least one hotel chain has asked some Hurricane Katrina evacuees to check out so it can honor the reservations of incoming guests.

Hilton Hotels, the parent company of Hampton Inn and other brands, is trying to find other rooms for the evacuees but said they were warned when they checked in that their stays would be limited by room availability, said Hilton spokeswoman Kathy Shepard....

So much for Adam Smith's invisible hand, eh. I make no pretence folks I believe that capitalism can work given proper government regulation. Otherwise, you have this kind of heartless bullshit going on.

...A Hampton Inn in Brookhaven, about two hours north of where Katrina struck, asked Barbara Perry of Folsom, La., to move out last week. She was living in the hotel with her parents and her three young children, and she was driving almost 90 miles a day to work.

"They told me if I didn't pick my clothes up, they were going to call the police," Perry said....

Remember folks this is the Bible Belt: good, upstanding, generous, morally superior....

....Had Perry found shelter in Louisiana, she would have been protected by a Sept. 1 executive order issued by Gov. Kathleen Blanco that bars hotels from displacing a refugee who guarantees payment.

....In Mississippi, no such protection exists. Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood has asked hotel managers to let evacuees stay longer, but they are not required to do so. Gov. Haley Barbour "has decided to let the private sector handle those issues without government intervention," said his spokesman, Pete Smith....

Not surprising , I believe most of the nation watching the immediate aftermath of the storm realized what a shitheel this freak is. Well at least the following hotel manager has a heart.

....Most hotel chains are still giving evacuees priority over guests with reservations, Hanson said. At a Comfort Inn across the street from the Hampton Inn in Brookhaven, assistant manager Anna Smith said no one was being asked to leave....

...."What would you do? They're homeless. You can't turn them away. It's morally wrong. I'd rather inconvenience our people with reservations," Smith said.

Good show Ms. Smith. Damn good show.