‘They probably don’t want our business’: Hotel prices explode during domestic event.

Hotel prices explode during a local event.

Tuesday, December 13, 2022

indiaz.com

People heading to South Dakota’s native basketball, educational and cultural tournament were shocked to learn that two hotels during the event were charging more than $2,000 a night. The two hotels in Rapid City – Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn and Suites – are both owned by Marriott Hotels. As of Tuesday morning, both listed rates of $2,000 or more, including taxes and fees. A Residence Inn front desk clerk who answered the phone Tuesday said the $2,353 amount (including taxes and fees) was a typo, and that he was checking with the manager to confirm the price. “That’s what it shows at the end of me,” he said.

‘No one can afford it’: hotel prices in Rapid City

The organizer of the Lakota Nation’s banquet, which began Tuesday and runs through Saturday, said he was surprised to learn the two hotels would charge more than $2,000 a night for the event, which runs Dec. 13-17 at the local convention center. “No one can afford this,” said Brian Brewer, executive director of LNI’s competition. “I don’t know why they do that. Maybe they don’t want our business. He said he plans to contact local tourism officials to get the two hotels to adjust their prices. Beer said hotels in Rapid City and nearby towns raise their prices during the tournament, which provides a significant economic boost to the Rapid City hotel and food industry each year. But they usually don’t raise their prices above $250 a night. I have raised the issue of hotel price increases during the tournament with city and local tourism officials in the past and have often been told that the corporate offices of those hotels are the ones who decide on price increases during the tournament. “I don’t understand,” he said. Secretary Vi Wallen of the Rosebud Lakota, who lives on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, was one of the first people on social media Tuesday morning to warn others about the exorbitant prices charged at the Residence Inn. “They love money but hate the natives,” Wallen said. In Rapid City, South Dakota’s second most populous city, Native Americans have long faced hostile and blatantly discriminatory business practices. In October, the Justice Department sued a local hotel for denying service to the state’s first residents, much of which was promised to the Sioux Nation in a treaty. “I believe the Department of Justice should conduct a broader investigation into systemic racism in the Rapid City community,” NDN Collective CEO Nick Tilson told Indians.com on the day the suit was announced on Oct. 19. NDN Collective is already suing the Grand Gateway Hotel for its racist practices, Tilson said. They pointed out. Representatives of the organization were repeatedly denied rooms at the facility and were escorted off the property by one of the owners, who is a defendant in the federal lawsuit. “Grand Gateway, frankly, is a product of a racist environment and a racist system,” Tilson said in an interview. “That’s how that behavior became ‘okay’ to them — because there’s a culture of racism and systemic, white supremacy in this community.” The hotel and its operators responded to the federal complaint on Nov. 14. They admitted denying a room to at least one person — because she was a “local” resident, meaning she lived in Rapid City. They also admit that their “environmental policy” is not officially written, but they are unwilling to admit that they are displacing “Native Americans” for business. In their response, Grand Gateway’s attorneys wrote, “Defendants do not have sufficient information to either admit or deny that Sunny Red Bear or the people with her are Native American.” According to the federal complaint, Sunny Red Bear, a Lakota from the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe, was denied a room at the hotel. Red Bear works for NDN Collection.

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