After Hurricane Irma slammed into the Caribbean, Marriott chartered a boat to rescue tourists trapped in St. Thomas. They hadn’t been able to escape the storm’s path once the airport closed and given the airport was damaged in the storm, escaping by boat was the only realistic path out. Several hundred tourists were gathered on a pier, desperate to flee before Hurricane Jose approached. That storm ended up changing course, but it was originally predicted to hit the island right after Irma and the rattled tourists were anxious to leave.
A relieved group of approximately 500-600 people loaded into the boat, which had 1800 seats, but Marriott made the decision to leave approximately 35 people behind because they were not guests of Marriott hotels:
“We just felt hopelessness,” said Cody Howard, a professional storm chaser who had been contracted to shoot weather footage on the island. His exit strategy evaporated when the island’s airport closed.
A U.S. Coast Guard boat approaches St. Thomas to deliver supplies on Sunday, more than a day after Marriott sent a ship to get its guests off the island.
“We’re grown men. We could take care of ourselves,” he said of himself and his chase partner. Howard had endured similar conditions filming footage of Hurricane Harvey. “We didn’t need a whole lot. But it was really hard to see people with kids and elderly people who don’t have anywhere to stay get turned away by this boat … For some people, that was the only [glimmer] of hope. After the boat left, they just felt hopeless and helpless.”
Feeling angry and hopeless, tourist Naomi Michial Ayala shared her video to Facebook.
Marriott and the port manager appear to be pointing fingers at each other with neither willing to take the blame for stranding the tourists. More from the Washington Post on Marriott’s response:
The ferry departed St. Thomas Friday, September 8, with the Marriott guests onboard. There were a number of additional people gathered at the dock who were not our guests who also expressed a desire to leave St. Thomas. We very much wanted to assist these other travelers to Puerto Rico, however, the Marriott team on-the-ground was told they had no authorization to board additional passengers who were not on the approved manifest. This was enforced by dock security.
Guests like Naomi Ayala said they were told the Marriott CEO personally made the call to exclude the 35 tourists who were not Marriott guests.
Ironically enough, Marriott’s guiding corporate principle is "Golden Rule—treating others like we'd like to be treated." On this occasion it seems Marriott definitely blew it.