2020 was a difficult year for Orlando. The coronavirus brought a two-handed hammer down on the city, with a decrease in leisure traffic to the themepark capital of the world, combined with the obliteration of the convention business which, along with international travel that came to a standstill, was the engine to the International Drive area. Every type of customer is traveling less and that’s taken a huge toll on the local economy that depended on those tourists.
At the beginning of the pandemic. one of the first non-theme-park hotels to close down was the Hyatt Regency Orlando. Some people will remember this as the former Peabody Orlando. The 1,641-room hotel has prime real estate, located adjacent to the Orange County Convention Center while featuring its own 315,000 square feet of meeting space. With no conventions and the themeparks closed, the hotel shut down in March 2020 and stayed closed until June.
The reopening coincided with when nearby Universal Orlando welcomed guests back, with Walt Disney World following soon thereafter. Still, typical convention guests weren’t coming back. In fact, the major use of the Convention Center property has been as a COVID-19 testing site. Most recently, it has also become the largest COVID-19 vaccination location in the region.
Seeing any group willing to book a major event and guaranteeing hotel room nights would seemingly be a good thing for Orlando. However, that’s not how many people on Twitter view it with cries to “Boycott Hyatt” are gaining momentum.
Last month, we saw a similar movement when Loews Hotels backed off hosting an event sponsored by Senator Josh Hawley. In that case, it was a smaller event marketed as a Family Getaway with the money raised going to a Missouri Political Action Committee. Although it was not sanctioned by Universal Orlando, having it on the resort property and therefore being linked to the parks might have had something to do with uninviting the senator.
CPAC is much bigger and the room block at the Hyatt is sold out, with guests being siphoned out to other area hotels that are undoubtedly happy to get the business. This will bring guests to the area in numbers not seen in almost a year. Local restaurants and even the attractions in the area will undoubtedly see an uptick in revenue from the guests.
And it’s not as if CPAC is coming to Orlando because it’s a friendly area. Orange County voted for Joe Biden by a 60-37 margin. Orange County is represented in the House by Val Demmings (D), one of the impeachment managers in the first trial and the current Orange County Mayor is her husband, Jerry Demmings.
Orange County has also had a mask mandate in place since June 2020 and has no plans on removing it anytime soon, much to the chagrin of many CPAC attendees. Even if the county didn’t have such a mandate, Hyatt has its own masking rules in place, which supposedly will be enforced over the weekend.
So I’m glad to see that the Hyatt Regency Orlando is finally able to book a large convention.
I’m just not thrilled about who’s paying for it and what they stand for.
Want to comment on this post? Great! Read this first to help ensure it gets approved.
#stayhealthy #staysafe #washyourhands #wearamask
Like this post? Please share it! We have plenty more just like it and would love it if you decided to hang around and get emailed notifications of when we post. Or maybe you’d like to join our Facebook group – we have 18,000+ members and we talk and ask questions about travel (including Disney parks), creative ways to earn frequent flyer miles and hotel points, how to save money on or for your trips, get access to travel articles you may not see otherwise, etc. Whether you’ve read our posts before or this is the first time you’re stopping by, we’re really glad you’re here and hope you come back to visit again!
This post first appeared on Your Mileage May Vary
23 comments
I understand, this freedom of speech thing is getting out of hand
This “freedom of speech thing” is the very reason you can make such a stupid comment in a public forum. 🙄
I let this comment go because of “free speech” but we’d usually block a comment about calling another comment stupid.
Why the constant hyper-reactive cancel culture attacks?!
A legal entity booked hotel rooms for a legal event… how is it in any way our business?!?!
Neither you nor I have to support CPAC or any other guest at a hotel. Everyone needs to learn to MYOB and carry on without getting terribly worked up over every little thing that does not please them. Grow up, people!
I can’t tell if you’re agreeing with me or if you’re mad at me. I’ll take it as agreement because while I said I was unsure about how to feel about it, I’m also in the camp that I don’t have to agree with everyone about everything. Equally as important is that there are some things we should all be able to agree on.
So you feel that since a particular group’s politics are diametrically opposed to yours should not host or provide facilities for their conference? Carrying that a-little further down the road aside from the censorship no group would have any facility to host their events, what would you say if I posted as you did my opposing a group that you support from having their event at this property? WOW has the country made a hard left turn.
Honest Question do you really understand what you wrote and all of its ramifications? Answer please
I ask you to re-read the post and note that I never say that I think Hyatt should have gone back on their agreement about hosting CPAC at their Orlando convention hotel. While I have my opinions about the views of many of the guests at the gathering, Hyatt can rent space and rooms to whoever they choose. Surely the hotel needs the revenue. I’d ask that in the future that you not jump ahead to where you think the article is headed and miss out on what I’m trying to say.
Why is this even a ‘thing’ unless you are arguing for cancel culture (the favorite new activity of the intolerant Left)? Because the tone of the article clearly implies that because you disagree with someone else, they should be punished. Totally uncool.
This is America. It’s called free speech. Anyone (left or right on the political spectrum) who is ‘triggered’ by someone else for having a different viewpoint really needs to take a breath and look at their own motives. The silencing of alternative viewpoints (taxes, foreign policy, social issues) is an existential threat to a free society.
Thanks for filling of my bingo card for buzzwords. You obvioulsy took what I wrote and added your own subtext to make it mean what you wanted. I won’t try to defend things I never wrote. Who’s the one getting “triggered?”
When you fail to address the substance of my comments (or any reader), that’s intellectually lazy. Pro Tip: Don’t be ‘that guy’ who is a caricature of the Left: all emotion and triggered, who can’t discuss an issue in a calm, rational, and fact-based manner. Free speech and open debate = good. Cancel culture = bad. It’s just that simple.
Thanks for calling me lazy, That Guy. Triggered and Emotional. I have a counter question. Why does the right always yell about “CANCEL CULTURE” whenever someone uses the financial power at their disposal to fight against what they feel is wrong? I’d be willing to discuss how bringing to light the buisness practices of a company is not part of what makes a “free market” work. And I’m still not clear about how all of this has something to do with free speech, unless you think that someone is going to end up in jail.
I would not want to be the mask police here. I hope they have body armor.
Cheers to Hyatt for not backing down to the haters. You can’t use Twitter as a gauge because most people are not on it and many radicals use bots to exaggerate the public’s reaction. Look to the example of Goya as to how not bowing to the liberal pressure affects business. Goya sales soared after their rejection of the liberal shaming. Hotels are struggling. Let’s not burden them with living up to our own political biases.
Written by an intolerant hateful person.
I agree.
Interesting how many people are not reading what you’re saying but are instead reaching conclusions through some personal prism.
Somehow this became a social experiment and it’s amazing how the majority of comments are one-sided.
Everyone read and understood your article, the headline tells everything you need to know about this writer. The left puts feelings ahead of rational thinking and behavior. The writer claims to be ok with the event but his last paragraph says he is not open to other views. If not then why the article?
I disagree with your last comment that “his last paragraph says he is not open to other views.” How did you come to that opinion with the sentence “I’m just not thrilled about who’s paying for it and what they stand for” Are you saying that since I don’t agree with comments from the other side that I’m not open to other views? Once again, I have to ask who is jumping to conclusions here?
While I can not speak for anyone but myself, as a businessman pre covid traveling an average 100/125K per year Paid not hacked, multiple lifetime status I enjoy reading the various bloggers however I don’t think I care for anyone’s personal political opinions being displayed here. I come for enjoyment, information which over the years I have gotten a lot and “previews” of where I am or might be going. What I don’t care for are political opinions such as yours at a property in the business of hosting conferences and guests. Your rebuttals are a typical of the left in this country today which is sad especially being a combat disabled veteran. And please don’t thank me for my service.
Travel safe.
I’m tired of writers who are so dense that they don’t realize they are spewing intolerance of people who are different than them.
I mean, should your readers be the subject of your feeling woke this time of the day?
I just saw on the news where this hotel came under fire for hosting the CPAC. All I have to say is thank you for not being bullied and standing up for American rights to speak and assemble!!!