Huge Proportion of Resort Hotels in U.S. Discriminate Against Jews

Nearly one out of four resort hotels in the United States practices religious discrimination in the admission of guests, according to a national survey, the first of its kind, made by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

Bernard Nath, Chicago attorney and chairman of the ADL’s national executive committee, told a meeting of the committee here today that the survey encompassed 3,014 hotels in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Hawaii, Alaska and the Caribbean. He said the survey revealed that a vigorous enforcement of state laws against discrimination in public accommodations is the principal key to the elimination of the problem of hotel bias.

The survey team sought to examine the stated policies of the 3,014 hotels, test them through responses to prospective guests and scrutinize their advertising and promotion literature. Current and explicit information was obtainable, however, for 1,065. Of this group, 237 or 22.2 percent, the evidence showed, clearly discriminate against Jews. The remaining 828 were classed by the survey as non-discriminatory, but 11 percent of this group have past records of discrimination.

“The core of the problem,” Mr. Nath declared, “lies in the 1,949 hotels or nearly two-thirds of the total number, on which we were unable to obtain current information. Many of these have consistently declined to clarify their policies toward Jewish guests, and 525 of them have been the subjects of complaint in the past. It leads us to believe that the definitive findings of the survey are an understatement of the true situation.”

In continental United States, the survey sought to review the policies of 2,731 resorts. Current information was obtained for 933, of which 244 or 22.9 percent clearly discriminate against Jews. Of the 719 which declare a policy of non-discrimination, 11 percent have past records of discrimination, the report noted.

ANTI-JEWISH BIAS ESPECIALLY HIGH IN MAINE, VERMONT, MICHIGAN, ARIZONA

The actual practices, the survey revealed, vary considerably from state to state. In three New England states which have laws against discrimination by places of public accommodation–Connecticut, Massachusetts and Rhode Island–the survey established that only 14 percent of the hotels discriminate against Jews. In the adjacent states of Maine, Vermont and New Hampshire which have no such legal bars, the survey placed the discrimination rate at 56 percent.

In New York State, which vigorously enforces its anti-discrimination law, the survey team found that only eight percent of the resorts examined are discriminatory, but the hotels of Vermont, which abuts on a principal New York resort area, show a 45 percent anti-Jewish discrimination rate.

Two winter resort states tested were Arizona and Florida, in both of which the figures are above the national average. In Arizona, the survey found 44.5 percent of the hotels for which information was obtainable discriminate against Jews while in Florida, the figure is 24,2 percent. The report cited “vigorous educational work” that has been carried on in Florida in recent years as probably responsible for the “remarkable improvement in Florida.”

In the Midwest, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, where there has been widespread discrimination against Jewish vacationers for years, continue to show a discrimination rate above the national average. The rates for these three states were Michigan, 48.7 percent; Minnesota, 20 percent; and Wisconsin, 29 percent.

In the areas outside continental United States, the survey found that 28.3 percent of the hotels upon which it obtained information in Canada discriminate, while in Mexico the figure was only 3 percent and in Hawaii, only one of the 14 hotels examined bars Jews.