Lawsuit: Orlando hotel canceled Arab foundation’s event over Middle East conflict

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The federal government has settled with an Orlando hotel that was sued for discrimination after the hotel canceled the Palestine-supporting Arab America Foundation’s annual conference in November 2023.

The DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Orlando at SeaWorld canceled the group’s summit one week before it was scheduled. Hotel officials raised concerns the event would bring up support for Gaza and had fears about a public backlash and safety concerns at the hotel, according to the lawsuit that was quickly resolved.

“In light of the ongoing war in the Middle East, Hotel officials did not want an Arab group holding an event at the DoubleTree,” read the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court’s Orlando division. “This was the first time in years that the DoubleTree had canceled an event against the wishes of the customer.”

On Thursday, the same day the lawsuit was filed, the Department of Justice (DOJ) said it had reached a settlement with the hotel. If approved by the court, the hotel would be required to issue a statement to the foundation that all guests and groups are welcome, establish a written anti-discrimination policy, train employees and hire a compliance officer to oversee the consent decree from the DOJ over the next two years.

“No one may be denied the right to use hotel facilities because of their national origin,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in a prepared statement. “The Justice Department is committed to protecting the rights of all people to be free from discrimination in hotels and other public accommodations around the country.”

The Foundation’s co-founder and board member Warren David said the group is pursuing civil legal action against the hotel.

“While this settlement is a positive step toward accountability, we believe it is only one part of a broader effort to ensure our community’s rights are fully respected,” David said in a statement. “The harm caused by the hotel’s actions remains significant, and we are pursuing civil damages to address the disruption to our event and the broader impact on the Arab American community.”

The DoubleTree is a 1,042-room hotel that contains ballrooms and meeting rooms for big events in Orlando’s tourism corridor.

In July 2023, the hotel and the Arab American Foundation signed a contract to host the foundation’s summit from Nov. 3-5, 2023.

Approximately 250 people already pre-registered to attend the event, which was supposed to include speakers, networking opportunities and events celebrating their Arab heritage, according to the lawsuit.

A few weeks before the summit, the hotel’s business leaders began to grow cold feet about hosting the event that would “feature segments” about Gaza, according to the lawsuit. Hilton requested no DoubleTree or Hilton logos appear on the podium or during the summit.

The hotel’s director of sales wrote the senior events manager that the hotel was receiving calls from people surprised the hotel was hosting an event for Arabs.

“(The) Hotel is becoming concerned that this event could cause unreasonable disruption or risk to the health and safety of our guests, employees, and the property,” the email said.

In reality, the hotel only received two calls about the summit.

“These calls were routine and did not raise any concerns for DoubleTree staff. And in fact, the Hotel never received calls voicing safety or security concerns, referencing media coverage, or expressing ‘surprise’ that the Hotel would host the event,” the lawsuit said.

The Arab group also hired four off-duty deputies with the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to provide extra security, something many event organizers do, the lawsuit said, arguing there were no valid safety issues for the conference to go on as planned.

The DOJ obtained text messages behind the scenes from the hotel’s business leaders as the summit date got closer, according to the lawsuit.

“Why would we postpone? Is it better for us to just cancel and be done?” the general manager texted.

The director of sales responded back, “We would simply state to reschedule to another time that is more appropriate. Or we just straight up tell them to cancel the event and not soften it with an offer to reschedule.”

“It’s to soften the blow, but we really wouldn’t rebook,” the hotel manager wrote.

“Exactly,” the director of sales wrote. “But we don’t have to soften it.”

“My vote is forget softening, cancel the event and deal with any repercussions,” the general manager texted. “I would like this resolved so we can report back to Hilton that this is done.”

On Oct. 27, 2023, the hotel officially canceled the event and told the foundation the conference was nixed because of “potential risk” to hotel staff and other hotel guests “under the current circumstances and world climate.”

The foundation asked the hotel to change its mind and still host the conference, but the hotel refused to reverse the cancellation or reschedule the summit for another date.

The lawsuit said, “The day after cancellation, the General Manager continued to search for ‘safety and security’ risks to justify the DoubleTree’s decision. He texted the Director of Sales, ‘We are on the correct side of this one,’ referring to the cancellation. The General Manager referenced the actions of Hamas and ongoing violence in the Middle East and said ‘that this (is) not the right time to attempt to safely hold a meeting at our hotel.’ He added, ‘It has always been about safety and security.'”

The hotel did not respond to Florida Politics’ requests for comment Friday.