Living well in New Orleans

If you didn't think you could get any madder or sadder about what's happening in New Orleans, read this story. (If you can't get past the zip code page, click the button that says you don't live in the U.S.)

Here's an excerpt:

At the Royal Sonesta Hotel in the French Quarter, dinner the last few nights has consisted of grilled tilapia, bow-tie noodles with tomato basil sauce, a T-bone steak and a nice red wine to wash it down. It's being prepared by two of the Bourbon Street hotel's chefs, who are using propane grills to prepare meals for the 31 staff members who have stayed behind to protect the 500-room hotel in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

"We're eating like kings," said Gary Davis, the hotel's electronic technician. "We've got to eat it all before it goes bad."
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The lobby looks as if it could receive guests at any moment. Generators keep some of their appliances in operation, including a refrigerator, a television, and several large air circulating fans. They even have ice for cold drinks.

The director of security, Joel Smith, spends his nights with a gun in his hand on guard against looters, but his days taking quick dips in the hotel pool. "Yeah, we have it pretty rough," he said. "All we need is the pool bar opening up and we'll be great."

I've never been in a war zone like New Orleans. I understand about personal survival and protecting property. But this is beyond the pale. I think it would be great if the Sonesta Hotels Corporation made a big fat donation to hurricane relief, don't you?

Comments

[mns]

I'm not quite sure why this upset you so, but they're doing much better than just donating to the Red Cross, they're donating directly to their employees, who, by the way do not live in the hotel, proper, and many of whom have lost relatives and friends in this ordeal, not to mention the significantly less substantial loss of their own homes, which can be replaced. Although the folk interviewed there may sound flippant, they aren't the fat cats lavishing in ideal circumstances you seem to think they are. They're hotel employees.

[Scott]

Yeah, they sound flippant indeed. I read the story -- I know they're hotel employees. The donation page you link to wasn't live until today. I assume it's in part due to the reaction from the story, and that's the appropriate (if belated) action on the hotel's part.