Privacy Rights Clearinghouse / UCAN
Down & Out in the Big Apple -
The New Yorker Ramada Hotel Story
By Mike Stollenwerk
Fairfax County Privacy Council
Houston.We have a problem...
In New York City that is. It seems that a "papers in order" mentality has reached such a fevered pitch in New York City that it is now unacceptable to stay at a hotel unless you carry and present "identity papers with photos" and let the hotel copy and retain these papers for their internal files. And you had better comply, according to New Yorker Ramada Hotel General Manager Barry Mann, "Otherwise, the next knock on the door will be the police terrorism squad" [Listen to audio file now].
Read ongoing press coverage at http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor and http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/000918.shtml#000918.
MAR 03: Invited to attend the ACLU-sponsored Computers, Freedom, and Privacy ("CFP") conference (www.cfp.org), I made a credit card reservation at the conference's location, The New Yorker Ramada Hotel, owned by The Reverend Sun Young Moon.
2 APR 03: Traveling by AMTRAK from DC to NYC to avoid having to carry photo ID (I bought my ticket using a credit card at an AMTRAK Ticket Kiosk), I arrived at 11:30 PM on 2 APR 03. I walked across from Penn Station to the hotel, stated my name at the front desk, identified myself as a CFP conference participant, presented my signed credit card, and asked to see a copy of the conference agenda for the following morning. My luggage was minimal - small backpack and small bag on wheels.
Much to my amazement, the hotel staff immediately refused to allow me to stay at the hotel unless I presented "Photo ID." Hotel staff manager Dohee stated that "Your reservation means nothing without photo ID." After making several phone calls to various persons, she then stated that no hotel in New York City will allow anyone to stay at their hotel without photo-ID. Ms. Dohee refused to accept my signed credit card used to make the reservation, even when backed up by my Ramada Club Card.
After much arguing and negotiating, I emphasized to Ms. Dohee that even many government ID credentials do not have photos. Ms. Dohee cautiously advised that she would accept a driver's license without a photo from New Jersey. Exasperated, I pulled out my government issued voter registration card and demanded to be boarded at the hotel as per the reservation contract which I reminded her did not advise me that I must present photo ID, nor could it anyway under their credit card agreements (see http://www.mastercard.com/cgi-bin/contactus.cgi?template=ContactUsMV&rgn=1; http://www.in.gov/dfi/consumer/pdfs/id.pdf).
It took Ms. Dohee several minutes of agonizing inspection of my three non-photo Ids (Credit Card, Voter Card, and Ramada Club Card) before she went to another room to copy my identity papers - she looked like she was under tremendous stress, and maybe thought that I was doing something illegal.
After an hour of hassle, I got my key, hit a small late night pizza parlor around the corner (and not a bad NY slice of pie, I must add!), and I went to sleep.
3 APR 03: Waking up without incident on Thursday, 3 APR 03, I began attending the conference. But then the harassment started. During a break in the conference at about lunch time, I went to my room and found a handwritten note placed on my pillow (kind of weird?) on hotel stationary stating:
"4/3/03
Mr. Stollenwerk:
Please contact me by 5:30 PM.
I am very interested in speaking to you.
Please call Ext. 5107 - They will find me.
Thanks
Doug Velotta
Director of Security"
I called Mr. Velotta right back and upon reaching his voice mail, left a message stating that I was "on a break" and would try to get a hold of him later.
Feeling that Mr. Velotta's need to see me was quite possibly not related to "comping" me for a night's stay in light of the delay in obtaining my lodging, I called Ramada Corporation to complain about two issues: First, the demand for photo-ID, and second, the copying of all Ids presented by all persons.
Initially, the Ramada corporation representative laughed at me, saying "things have changed." When I demanded to speak to her supervisor, she patched me through to an intelligent life form (Mike) who, after I advised him that I was attending an ACLU sponsored conference at a Ramada Hotel, took my complaint seriously and promised to obtain resolution by mail to my home address within 7 days.
Returning to the hotel after dinner, I personally witnessed a hotel guard demanding to see the room key of one CFP participant out of our group of conference participants walking to the elevators to return to our rooms. Another person in our group pleasantly asked "do you need to see my room key too?" And the guard responded, "no, just his," pointing to the man in question, who was wearing business style attire, had Mediterranean facial features, and was prominently displaying his CFP conference name tag which stated his Arabic looking name.
Not returning to my room until late in the evening, I missed Mr. Velotta's voice mail urging me to contact him by 5:30 PM. Since 5:30 PM has long since passed, I went to sleep.
4 APR 03: After attending some morning meetings, I took a break and stopped by the hotel security desk to track down Mr. Velotta. He was standing there, and motioned me to come around the corner out of sight of everyone. He quietly stated that "nobody has ever complained about showing ID before" and that "had any other manager been on duty" when you arrived, that you would not have been allowed to stay. I quietly explained why his hotel's policies were misguided:
- No duty for Americans to have or carry IDs (upheld in court since the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks in Carey v. Nevada Gaming Control Board, (2002) - 9th Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, referencing their previous decision in Lawson v. Kolender, 658 F.2d 1362 (9th Cir. 1981) [which was upheld by the Supreme Court in Kolender v. Lawson, 461 U.S. 352, 361-62 (1983)], explained that government demands that US persons identify themselves to government agents violate the Fourth Amendment because "as a result of the demand for identification, the statutes bootstrap the authority to arrest on less than probable cause, and [because] the serious intrusion on personal security outweighs the mere possibility that identification might provide a link leading to arrest").
- Photo IDs can be bought in the street easily.
- Only paying guests were required to present IDs - not other overnight guests, visitors, etc.
- Not a "standard" business practice at American hotels, yet (http://www.hotelinteractive.com/news/articleView.asp?articleID=1814).
- No photo ID requirement disclosed in the reservation process.
- US Supreme Court Affirmed Opt-Out right for Photographs in Driver's Licenses (Jensen v. Quaring, 472 U.S. 478 (1985)).
- Credit Card agreement prohibitions on asking to see additional ID (http://www.mastercard.com/cgi-bin/contactus.cgi?template=ContactUsMV&rgn=1; http://www.in.gov/dfi/consumer/pdfs/id.pdf.
- Possibly illegal under New York state law to copy IDs in credit card transactions (http://www.gofso.com/Premium/LE/06_le_ic/fg/fg-merchants.html).
- That his ID copy file presented an ID theft liability to his company and to consumers because ID theft is mainly an inside job, just like shoplifting ("Identity Theft More Often an Inside Job: Old Precautions Less Likely to Avert Costly Crime, Experts Say," The Washington Post, 3 DEC 2002, Page A1). Note: many driver's licenses, and all military IDs display both the subject's date of birth and Social Security Number ("SSN") on the same document; given easy clerk access to the address and home phone number of the guest in the reservation system, the hotel is extracting a de facto power of attorney over that person's identity as a pre-condition to rent a room.
I asked him how long the hotel keeps copies of IDs - he said "Billing keeps them for about 30 days." When I told him that Ms. Dohee promised that the copies of my identity papers would be returned at checkout, he exclaimed in slight alarm, "She did?"
I strongly encouraged Mr. Velotta to re-think entirely their hotel security procedures so as to emphasize "real" security with his management and then asked who the owner of the hotel was. Mr. Vellotta sheepishly stated: "The Reverend Sun Young Moon." At this point, Mr. Velotta stated that he had already received my "complaint fax" from Ramada Corporation and that he knew I was attending a conference "with lawyers." He slowly began walking away from me, indicating that he was no longer interested in continuing the conversation. I returned to the conference.
At the next session, a speaker advised everyone that when she objected to showing an ID to the hotel at check-in on the night of 3 APR 03, the hotel staff advised her that it was required and that the hotel had just called the police to apprehend a guest who had called the hotel prior to arriving that he would not present photo ID when he arrived. According to this CFP speaker, the hotel staff indicated that the police had then apprehended the miscreant guest after he had already checked in and that they had removed him from the hotel. Many of the CFP participants that I spoke to stated that they also objected to the ID policy to hotel staff at check-in.
At the end of this session, I returned to my room at 6PM to get ready to go to dinner. I played my voice mail, which stated: [listen to audio clip]
"This is Barry Mann, General Manager of the hotel, Mr. Stollenwerk. Ahhh, it's a little after 9 in the morning. I'd like you to come down and present some picture ID. Otherwise, the next knock on the door will be the police terrorism squad. Thank you."
Very startled, I went to my door and locked the safety latch. I then played the message over 3 times - it finally dawned on me that the message was left for me much earlier in the day. I purchased a tape recorder and after 4 other conference participants listened to the message on my room phone voice mail, I taped it in their presence. One witness was a California attorney. Witnesses noticed that my face was noticeably "red."
5 APR 03 - When I went to check out at 8:04 AM, clerk Angel Palaquibay adamantly refused to return the copies of my identity papers stating that the hotel will not be "paid for 30 days." Only after significant argument with manager Robert Carvajal, was I able to retrieve them, but I have no way of knowing if they kept another copy.
My experience in New York City is unfathomable. In one sense I'm glad for my own personal safety that I was a white male at a conference full of lawyers. On the other hand, it makes me sick. Regardless, it is simply "unsafe at any speed" to allow corporations, chartered domestically or overseas, to demand production of, and copy and file sensitive "identity papers" of American citizens, who aren't required to have any "identity papers" anyway.
But now I know why New York City is the "City that Never Sleeps" - because you can't sleep in New York City hotels unless you have Photo-ID and let the hotel copy and retain it. But even that may not be good enough - so don't sleep too tight because ".the next knock you hear on the door.[could be] the police terrorism squad." You have been warned.
Please join me in boycotting the New Yorker Ramada Hotel, all Ramada Hotels worldwide, and all New York City Hotels until they rectify this situation. I recommend you forward this email and audio file across the US and overseas to associates and to travel agencies to warn folks about the current atmosphere in New York City - certainly, you do not want to hold any conferences or sleep overnight in New York City - especially if you are a foreigner, or not in the company of a lot of lawyers!!. You should not subsidize a corporation who will waste valuable New York City police resources harassing paying guests under false pretenses when the police clearly have better things to do - like protect people visiting the city.
Also, you may complain directly to the Ramada New Yorker Hotel by calling (212) 971-0101, or fax them at (212) 629-6536, or send them an email using their web form page at: http://www.nyhotel.com/FAQ/New_Yorker_Hotel_FAQ.htm.
The Ramada corporation can be reached at: 1-800-828-6644 or web form email at: http://www.ramada.com/Ramada/control/email
New York City Mayor Bloomberg can be reached at: Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg City Hall, New York, NY 10007. (212) 788-9600, FAX (212) 788-2460. E-MAIL -- http://nyc.gov/html/mail/html/mayor.html
If the Mayor does not investigate this flagrant corporate abuse of New York City police resources, then I am going to ask the Governor of New York to investigate.
Sincerely,
Mike Stollenwerk
Fairfax County Privacy Council
UPDATE (10 APR 03): Received a written response from the Ramada Corporation informing me that the New Yorker Hotel "is independently owned and operated under a Ramada franchise..we feel the best resolution would be achieved by direct communication between the property management and you." To be fair, this response is in response to my phone call to Ramada Corporation on 3 APR 03; they may not even yet be aware of the threat made toward me by the hotel's General Manager Barry Mann on 4 APR 03.