Brunei owned hotels delete social media accounts

Nine Brunei-owned luxury hotels have deleted their social media accounts following the announcement of the country’s new anti-gay laws.

The list of hotels that no longer have social media are as follows: Hotel Bel-Air, The Beverly Hills Hotel, The Dorchester, 45 Park Lane, Cowoth Park, Le Meurice, Hotel Plaza Athenee and Hotel Principe di Savoia, based in the US, UK, France and Italy.

The parent company of these hotels released a statement on its Twitter account addressing the issue at hand, which said that as an inclusive and diverse company, it does not tolerate any form of discrimination.

“Although we believe in open and transparent communication, we have reluctantly deactivated our hotel social pages due to the personal abuse directed at our employees for whom we have a duty of care. Our corporate social media pages remain in place.

Dorchester Collection’s Code emphasises equality, respect and integrity in all areas of our operation, and strongly values people and cultural diversity amongst our guests and employees,” the post by Dorchester Collection added.

Hotel Principle de Savoia in Italy has changed its Twitter account to “protected” – meaning its posts can no longer be viewed – while the rest of the accounts have disappeared from Twitter.

Each of the hotels have deleted their Facebook pages, while the Instagram accounts of all but three have been deactivated.

The accounts of Le Meurice and Hotel Plaza Athenee in France and Hotel Eden in Rome have been made “private”, meaning only current followers can view their posts.

The new laws in the Muslim-majority nation mean anyone found guilty of homosexuality or cheating on their partner could be whipped or stoned to death.

George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres and Elton John are among the celebrities to have called for a boycott of hotels owned by Brunei’s investment agency.