Richard Branson, founder and chairman of Virgin Group, London, announced via Twitter that Virgin will boycott the hotels of Dorchester Collection, London.
“No @Virgin employee, nor our family, will stay at Dorchester Hotels until the Sultan abides by basic human rights,” Branson tweeted from his personal Twitter account @richardbranson.
Dorchester Collection is owned by the Sultan of Brunei through the Brunei Investment Agency. Recently members of the fashion and entertainment community instigated a boycott of Dorchester Collection hotels over a new law in Brunei that advocates the stoning of gay individuals committing sexual crimes and flogging for abortion.
Although Dorchester Collection CEO Christopher Cowdray has been proactive in saying that its hotels abide by the laws of the countries in which it operates and do not tolerate any form of discrimination, the controversy continues to gain steam including among hoteliers, as the comments in this recent blog by HOTELS Editor In Chief Jeff Weinstein indicate.