Did anyone watch Dateline re: blackout?

[Minnie824]

Oh my gosh, I can not believe the one part of Dateline. The Marriott in times square, said due to the blackout, they could not guarentee safety of their guests, so what did they do...they locked them out!!! There was a family with a little girl and triplet babies stuck out in the streets of new york city overnight with no where to go. Can you even imagine? Is it really safer there? Can they legally do that? I still can't believe it.

 

[TIdoublegaER]

I saw that too. Hate to say it, but in our sue happy society, I can understand why Marriott did this (and they weren't the only hotel who did). Elevators weren't working, no one could get in their rooms because key cards weren't working, checkin lobby at the Marquis is on the 8th floor. By putting them on the street, people were responsible for themselves. It did look like they provided pillows and bed linens (not much I know, but better than nothing I guess). Do I think it is right? No, but I think this is what our society has come to. When people stop suing McDonald's because they were to stupid to know their coffee was hot, or because they didn't know fast food was bad for you, things might change.

 

[DaisyDebbie]

As sad as it is, TIdoubleER is right.

They weren't out on the streets all alone, half the city was out there with them, like a big pajama party.

 

[iNTeNSeBLue98]

While I hadn't seen Dateline I did see a report sometime last evening (Friday) that it was cooler outside than indoors. I know how hot my rowhome is in a city of 80,000, I can't imagine how hot it would be in Manhattan. The hotels did have safety in mind, with no emergency lighting how do you find your way up and down stairs, through corridors, through a room? There's really no use being in the building if it's pitch black and no use of anything other than a bed that you probably can't find in the dark. While it's sad that this family and others had to remain outdoors, the hotel did what it could to protect everyone's interests.

 

[Dan Murphy]

I too, think I agree with TIdoubleER. It is a matter of liability. So many things today are driven out of fear of suit, oftentimes frivolous, but often so costly. Given the choice, I think they may have done the right thing. Hard to accept, but under the terribly unusual circumstances, probably correct.

 

[vald1977]

I saw this on Dateline too. I do understand the hotel's point but looking at those three little babies on the street was really heartbreaking. I also heard of other hotels in NYC doing the same on my local news.

 

[adamak]

My understanding is that lots of other hotels didn't kick their customers out. Some actually have staff walk them all the way up to their rooms. While it's a liability issue, it would be wiser to let people sleep in the lobby and fence off the stairs. Marriott especially has a hugh lobby, and they have a driveway in between. They also have a theater inside, so why not let everyone sit there?

It's really outrageous to see that couple with 3 babies on the street. While is perfectly safe, it can't be fun for parents. It's not like you're in your early 30s and trying NYC for the first time.

Luckily, it wasn't as hot as I expected to be. It's actually better to be outside than in. All buildings have not AC, so the city is very cool.

 

[KDawnLily]

The Safety issue could also be relating to Fire Alarms. Most of the Alarms in these large hotels in Large cities need electricity to safely activate the alarms.. Can you imagine if someone had a candle in a room on the first floor- they knock the candle over- the drapes go up in flames... there are people on the tenth floor sound asleep...the fire keeps growing 2nd floor, 3rd floor......You see where I am going. I would rather chance it with the rest of NYC on the streets in my PJ's gazing at the stars...

 

[Penny2]

I can somewhat understand this too, but find it hard to believe that they couldn't have found an alternative....was all of New York out (meaning upper part of the state??), or at least let them stay in the lobby or something.

I'm a meeting planner and we had a group of about 100 people in Detroit for our second largest sales meeting of the year. Our hotel basically said to me on Friday morning...we are at the point where we can't guarantee safety both for obvious reasons - no lights and sanitary reasons...no water! We found hotel rooms about two hours out of Detroit, put our people on busses and drove them to the new hotel. In fifteen years, I've never had this happen....kamikaze meeting planning. We were so lucky...while certainly we couldn't do all the fantastic A/V presentations and evening events...we made it work and our people were really good sports about it.

Our hotel fed us and gave us water, soda, etc. until they started to run out. The only thing that I can fault them for are that their generator which was supposed to last for 48 hours kicked out after about 2 and people had to walk up to their rooms for thier luggage, etc. (14 story hotel), they sold beer to everyone in the middle of all this (let's get people drunk and let them walk around in the dark with limited bathroom facilities) and they gave no assistance in helping us to find another hotel. It wasn't like looking for one room....we needed 60+.

Now it's back to the office to find out what the damage is in regards to unfullfilled contracts. One venue is already saying they could have done our Saturday event (even though we are still in a water emergency)! My staff and I were really tested but we came through.....god, skill and old fashioned luck were on our side. No one was hurt, they had fun and everyone is now home okay.

Just venting...it was CRAZY!!

 

[whtyger97]

Penny - I don't know if all of new york was out but a HUGE area was, and even if it wasn't out, transporting people to a location that wasn't out isn't really a good option, mainly because with all the traffic lights out traffic was a mess. I'm not saying locking them out was right but i don't think a solution that worked in detroit on the edge of the black out would work well in new york.

 

[Mary Anne]

All of NYC (meaning all 5 boro's were without electric) as well as all of NY State and most of the eatern seaboard into Michigan. It was an emergency. Personally as a New Yorker and just as inconvienced as every tourist, I think that they did excactly what they felt had to be done.

I am survived the '65, '77 and '03 blackout as well as the WTC. People make judgement calls based on what is presented at that moment. It is very easy to second guess what should have been done after the fact.

What needs to be done is review the procedues and put steps in place to make sure if anything happens again other options are available.