Hawaii Hotel Manager Offends Vet, Service Dog

[grunchley]

This was forwarded to me from a friend in Hawaii this morning:

Yesterday, one of the combat disabled vets that frequents this page attempted to check into The Hyatt Place in Waikiki, HI. He was tagging along with his wife, who is government employee. Their family is being relocated to HI and this trip was for them to find adequate housing for the family and their two small children while they are stationed out there for the next few years.

The trip was booked through SATO (mil travel).

While checking in, this vet was approached by the hotel's General Manager, a man named Imre Gonczy, who asked about the service dog who was standing at the counter with his owner. The service dog was wearing a clearly marked "SERVICE DOG" vest and had it's paperwork with it. (The picture attached is the dog in question.)

The hotel's GM, Gonczy, challenged the service dog's role and asked questions that, by federal law he is not allowed to ask, and then stated, " I can't tell you you can't stay here... but I will tell you I don't like it." From that point, in the vet's own words:

"The GM then proceeded to tell me to avoid all public areas due to my service dog, not to eat at the breakfast buffet, and should I need to walk "that thing", I was told to call ahead to the desk to inform them I was coming down the elevator and then I was expected to walk about 250m east down an alley, cross a major road in Waikiki (about 8 lanes total across) and walk him on the front lawn of the Honolulu Zoo. Then he informed me they'd also be charging me pet fees because he's not a service animal, he's a service "dog." When I asked him politely "Is this how you treat all combat vets w/ disabilities? You do understand you're violating a handful of laws right now?", he smiled and grabbed my shoulder and said "why don't we discuss this in my office""

Unacceptable. Period. Unacceptable, according to federal law. Unacceptable according to human decency. Unacceptable treatment for a combat disabled veteran.

Again, please share this. I believe Imre Gonczy needs to learn a valuable lesson regarding the proper treatment of our nation's veterans.

[swimmom]

Apology on Facebook from the Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach

We are sincerely sorry for the situation that recently occurred with one of our guest’s service animals. We want all of our guests to feel welcome, and that clearly did not happen in this case. At the time of this guest's stay, we refunded the guest's room rate, and we are making efforts now to reach out to personally express our regrets.

We welcome all service animals in guest rooms and public areas. While we continue our evaluation of this specific instance, we are firmly reiterating our policy with Hyatt Place Waikiki Beach staff to prevent future occurrences.

We have a deep appreciation for military veterans and their families, and we are proud when we have the privilege of hosting them.

[pirana]

I called the inn and only received voicemails. Poor things aren't at work yet, because it's a bright and early 7:00 AM there and nobody is addressing this yet.

So, I voiced my concern at Hyatt's main number, (888) 735-2954. They passed me around, until I reached someone in "Customer Relations," I think it was. The lady I spoke with knew well of the incident, and said it's being looked into thoroughly.

I pressured her on whether we would find the truth out and, if this guy actually did this, what would be his fate. She refused to tell me what would be in store for him, but assured me the hotel chain is trying to make it right with the veteran.

If this is true, I'd surely like to know. If this is true, Imre Gonczy is a spineless douche.

[pavegnr]

Were does it say the, GM, IDIOT was fired? Trip advisor calls him the Assistant GM in February 2012.

[Hot Mess]

Originally Posted by pavegnr

Were does it say the, GM, IDIOT was fired?

Fired? More like publicly beaten.

[grunchley]

Deleted. Didn't see that swimmom had already posted this.

[Bravo Five Romeo]

When I asked him politely "Is this how you treat all combat vets w/ disabilities? You do understand you're violating a handful of laws right now?", he smiled and grabbed my shoulder and said "why don't we discuss this in my office""

So what happened after the GM spoke with him in the office.

The law requires the hotel to allow service animals.

1. Missing from this story is what happened after the guest informed the manager of the law.

2. Did the guest really have to play the combat veteran card?

but hey, let's all get worked up and outraged assuming that this manager disrespects combat veterans.

if the guest were black and given grief over his service animal, would we all assume the manager was racist?

Here's what i get from this partial story...
The general manager of a hotel didn't know how to properly deal with a guest with a service animal and, while he put some restrictions on his guest and made it clear he wasn't happy, he at no time told the guest he couldn't stay.
This was all during the initial contact.
We have no idea what happened after that initial contact because the outraged guest didn't feel it was worth mentioning in his story... which leads me to presume that everything was squared away once they sat and talked.
I suspect if there were further inappropriate things said, the guest would have included it in his story.

So is this the story of an America-hating manager disrespecting combat veterans?
...or the story of an opportunist looking to sue and get public opinion to pressure the hotel over a dumbass manager who didn't know the law under the ADA.

Before passing judgment on this incident I would want to know if, beyond the initial contact wherein the manager showed he had no understanding of his own hotel's rules in accordance with the ADA, was the problem resolved when they went to sit in his office?

Is this guy starting a campaign against the Hyatt over a misunderstanding that was corrected immediately... or was it not corrected?

[pirana]

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

Did the guest really have to play the combat veteran card?

What does that matter?

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

but hey, let's all get worked up and outraged assuming that this manager disrespects combat veterans.

Who here said that?

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

So is this the story of an America-hating manager disrespecting combat veterans?
...or the story of an opportunist looking to sue and get public opinion to pressure the hotel over a dumbass manager who didn't know the law under the ADA.

The notion of a lawsuit is new, unless I missed something.

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

Before passing judgment on this incident I would want to know if, beyond the initial contact wherein the manager showed he had no understanding of his own hotel's rules in accordance with the ADA, was the problem resolved when they went to sit in his office?

We're correct to ask these questions in order to come to an opinion.

Like I said above, if this happened, the manager has a real problem with his behavior.

[Husker19D30]

Manager fucked up, guest voiced opinion, Corporation's public relations department responded with a well stated and sincere sounding apology.

Next slide.

[tooslow]

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

Your post

I was all ready to be thoroughly outraged until I read your post. You are absolutely correct that we do not have enough of the story in the O.P.

[Bravo Five Romeo]

Originally Posted by pirana

What does that matter?

Playing the card... any card... changes the point to garner an emotional response and is meant to imply (subtly or directly) the motives of the offending party.
It is unnecessary, distracting and provocative.
If you dislike how you are being treated... even if you are 100% in the right... adding on to it something like "is this how you treat all (fill in the blank) people?" is casting yourself as a discriminated against victim when that may not have anything whatsoever to do with it.

Originally Posted by pirana

Who here said that?

Not so much here, other than the title of the thread, but elsewhere on the interwebs.
In doing a little digging to try an learn more, I have seen this same story reposted on various sites with many outraged calls for complaining to, or boycotting, the Hyatt over the way they treat combat veterans... as if that were the problem.
this was obviously done with enough effect that, in their apology, the Hyatt not only explained that they do allow service animals in accordance with the ADA, but felt obliged to mention their respect for veterans because that became part of this controversy.

this disabled person has my sympathy that he may have been mistreated by a manager and I hope it was resolved appropriately.

but this disabled person lost some of my sympathy when he, in his own words, asked the manager if that was how he treated all disabled combat veterans.

[SN]

Manager vilated ADA/HPPA by asking questions regarding the vets medical conditions. The vet says he had the papers proving it is a service dog; that's all that is required.

Hotel is making it right (from my standpoint), but the "Manager" needs to feel some pain (he made an ass of himself and the corporation).

[tooslow]

It is incomprehensible, to me, that someone can achieve General Manager of a hotel without being fully trained in the ADA law.
I hesitate to condemn based upon what appears to be 'half the story'. After all, this is in "his own words".
Perceptions...

[SOTB]

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

So what happened after the GM spoke with him in the office.

Not relevant.

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

The general manager of a hotel didn't know how to properly deal with a guest with a service animal and, while he put some restrictions on his guest and made it clear he wasn't happy, he at no time told the guest he couldn't stay....

LOL, I believe you stated that you once worked in a service industry, I believe it was in nightclubs/music. If you expect anyone here to believe that a supervisor to the extent of a GM was unaware of the rules pertaining to ADA and service animals in 2013, then you have poor SA.

That you don't want to jump to conclusions doesn't mean those jumping aren't correct. In this case, we have a GM who clearly has a pretty poor grasp on customer relations, and it doesn't matter if this was his first time or his thousandth -- he was out of line. And since the fucking ADA exists and is not a recent thing, there is no excuse you can come up with that will make your comments logical.

Furthermore, I really like how the fucker put his hand on the dude's shoulder -- I do it, so right on. I do it to dominate the situation, period. Yeah yeah, to calm things down -- but by MY doing. IMO the vet would have been right to clock the GM for touching him.

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

Playing the card... any card....

OK, fine. Maybe you're right. But in the evils presented in this story, the vet getting ticked and puffing out some indignation is lesser than a GM with an ASSitude....

[Chimo]

I spoke with the REAL GM of the hotel. A woman by the name of Bonnie. She said that they are reviewing footage from the security system and are interviewing the staff who were on duty. She wants the Vet in question to contact her about this as right now she is only getting Gonczys side of the story. BTW Gonczy is only a Manager not the GM.

From what I understand the Vet in question has retained an Attorney to deal with this issue.

[grunchley]

This ...

Originally Posted by Chimo

From what I understand the Vet in question has retained an Attorney to deal with this issue.

Makes this ...

Originally Posted by Bravo Five Romeo

...or the story of an opportunist looking to sue and get public opinion to pressure the hotel over a dumbass manager who didn't know the law under the ADA.

Sound more and more plausible.