Judge: Tea Party Nation founder must pay $748k Las Vegas hotel bill A judge has ordered Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips to pay a six-figure hotel bill for a large number of rooms he booked for a tea party rally, which he later cancelled when the event failed to draw enough attendees. The Venetian Las Vegas Casino Resort alleged that Phillips had reserved 1,637 rooms for the July 2010 event, and then cancelled the reservations just a few weeks before the scheduled date. He did not pay for the rooms. In a court order last month, which The Tennessean reported Thursday, a judge ruled that Phillips owed the resort $748,000, including the $554,000 hotel bill and $194,300 in accrued interest. This is not the first time a Republican group has found itself in a bind over an unpaid hotel invoice. In February, the Charleston Place Hotel sued a South Carolina political consultant and the Southern Republican Leadership Conference for an allegedly unpaid hotel bill, FITSNews.com reported. The conference was held in January, the weekend before the South Carolina Republican primary. The hotel alleged that the conference was “poorly attended,” that consultant Robert Cahaly and the SRLC owed $227,800, and that they had behaved unethically “in an effort to evade their responsibility for payment.” Sources close to the SRLC told FITSNews that the hotel was attempting to double-bill a number of guests. The Venetian lodged its legal claim against Judson Phillips in July of 2011. The hotel makes regular appearances in political news since its owner is billionaire Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson. http://news.yahoo.com/judge-tea-party-nation-founder-must-pay-748k-153404637.html?_esi=1 The worst part for the Tea Party? The billionaire Republican, Sheldo Adelson, wont let $748k slide.
Can any lodging professionals here speak to standard cancellation policies and timelines for large bookings like this? With the advance notice and potential six figure bill for ultimately unused services, I'm inclined to side with the Party on this one.
For large bookings, you have to sign a contract guaranteeing that you will cover rooms that attendees do not book. The reasons are two fold. These booking prevents other potential guests from reserving the rooms and conference attendees don't drink and gamble at the same rate as normal guests.
can't point out a post here which isn't intelligent and simply gloating? honestly i don't think this is d&d material anyway
Well, bad business deal. Now, they believe in removing the gov't b/c they can do better? Or they can do whatever they want?
The tea party wants to reign in government spending, but they can't even reign in their own spending! :grin:
As he should. The casino is owned by him, but the finances are going to be separate from his personal finances. The casino shouldn't take a $700,000 loss just because the owner is rich. And it's unlikely he would be even involved in the decision. He doesn't run the day to day operations of the casino, and I'm pretty sure their legal department would make the decision to pursue money owed to the company on their own.
