Why George Clooney’s Sultan of Brunei Hotels Boycott Is Misguided


Skift Take

Clooney’s effort to boycott the Dorchester Collection is the wrong approach. In effect, it actually serves to harm the frontline staff and workers in the hotels that create the magic for guests and Hollywood luminaries alike.

Series: On Experience

On Experience

Colin Nagy is a marketing strategist and writes on customer-centric experiences and innovation across the luxury sector, hotels, aviation, and beyond. You can read all of his writing here.
George Clooney has launched a boycott of hotels owned by the Sultan of Brunei. It’s similar to the same movement he launched back in 2014, this time in response to the recently announced Sharia law toward the LGBTQ community in Brunei. In a column in Deadline Hollywood, Clooney called for a boycott of the hotels within the Dorchester Collection, including The Beverly Hills Hotel, Hotel Bel-Air, and seven others in Europe owned by the sultan, who holds power in Brunei. [caption id="attachment_128327" align="aligncenter" width="600"] George Clooney is calling for a boycott of hotels that include The Beverly Hills Hotel.[/caption] His apparent logic is that every dollar spent in one of the properties is somehow propping up