A sign outside the New Orleans Marriott Warehouse Arts District is getting some attention because it seems to capture how little guests matter to the chain: “Benches are for Marriott employees only.”
But while I’ve certainly seen hotels see guests, and Bonvoy elite members in particular, as marks more than customers I don’t often see employees treated much better. So something else has to be going on here.
Like deadheading pilots having upgrade priority over customers now at American and United Airlines, is this a business forgetting that the customers are why it’s there? I actually don’t think so.
This sign is almost certainly not about guests. It’s in New Orleans. It’s about loitering control. They’re also flagging NO LOITERING and NO SMOKING. That says, we’ve had people hanging out here who aren’t supposed to be here and we want them gone.
Hotels (and downtown properties generally) treat lingering near entrances as a security and brand problem. It brings panhandling, sleeping, smoking clusters, intoxication, and arguments. They don’t want vagrants, and are doing it poorly.
It’s likely this is a spot where employees frequent, and saying “employees only” means ‘this is for employees and not the people we do not want.’ It’s a proxy for “no public use.” Saying ‘customers only’ invites debate over whether someone might be or become a customer (and what about a regular guest not currently staying? let them sit and enforcement becomes uneven). Employees is a bright line.
Still, this is bad framing. The problem the hotel probably wants to address here is smoking, sleeping, panhandling, drug use, and harassment. “Employees only” sounds like guests aren’t welcome (that’s how it’s being taken by many online). Instead, use benches you can sit on but not camp on, with dividers and no flat sleeping surfaces. Add more lighting. But this sign signals poor hospitality. To guests: “don’t sit.” To staff: “your break area is out on the sidewalk, under a NO LOITERING sign.”
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