Anaheim Usenix Attendees (Opinions)

[Mark A Allyn]

> >The Marriott management was *EXTREMELY* rude to pool/hottub goers on
> >(Wed? Thurs?) night;  Ellie Young was there and quite p.o.'ed at them.
> 
> pool.
> 

A few general comments about Marriot. While I did not attend this 
conference, I have been to Marriots and have had friend who know people
who worked in them.

The Marriot's are owned by a Bill Marriot. As far as I know, he and his
family practicaly own the chain lock stock and barrel. 

In each room, as I remember, there is not only a Gideon Bible, but also
a copy of the Book of Mormon, and a short biography of the Marriot family and
history of the company. 

Mr. Marriot is a devout Latter Day Saint (Mormon or LDS); he professes to
go by the book all the way. Tithes at least 10 percent of his and his
company's income to his church. Not drinking and smoking. No coffee. Streight
as a laser. You know the type.

It is a miracle that there is even a bar in the hotel in the first place. If
Mr. Marriot is anything like LDS members who I know, bars and drinking are 
just go against everything they believe. Many of them don't want drinking
in their homes at all. If I were Mr. Marriot and a devout Mormon 
I would probably take the bars out of my hotels alltogether. By being his
you could almost say it is an extension of his house and you folks are his
guests.

Same with the hot-tub and pool. Those folks hold their bodies as sacrid. 
Nudity and some of the hanky panky is alian to them and they probably take
offense to it seriously. A thoughtfull guess is that much of the staff at
that Marriot (remember that it's in southern CA which has a large
LDS population) is of the same faith. No wonder that they probably 
behaved as alleged on the net.

Don't mistake me. I am not of that faith and I am not saying that it's 
right or correct. I am saying that that chain is family owned and the 
family has choses to put tight control on it the way they and their
Beliefs see fit and what happend was probably one of the results.