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Starbucks IS junk. It tastes like coffee that you let sit on the burner all day long. How people like it is beyond me, though I do have an affinity for their bottled Mocha Frapuccino (the bottled kind in the store, the fresh kind I don't like as much). Seattle's Best is actually quite good...

Reminds of the time I got a call at the station from someone who was arrested in Mexico (Tijuana or Ensenada I think) and was DEMANDING that as both a US citizen, and a resident of my city, that I MUST go help him. Once visions of the movie "Midnight Express" stopped playing in my head, all I...

That's the point I'm trying to make. Hilton (and apparently Sheraton too) are stuck in a difficult position. No matter what they do, they end up breaking someone's laws. In the end they'll end up choosing the route that hurts the least. $112k is pocket change to a company like Sheraton, but...

It's not that it's IMPOSSIBLE for an American to go to Cuba (many go via Mexico), it's just that it's not legal for us to do so, and as stated you can get socked with a pretty hefty fine if you're caught. I hear that Cuban immigration officials won't stamp American passports for that reason...

North Korea is also another "no-go" country for Americans, with few exceptions. I think there's a couple of others as well. The list used to be a lot larger before the Berlin Wall came down. I would love to visit Cuba. I hear there's some great diving over there :D But alas, it'll have to...

There's a MAJOR difference between what the Hilton Group has done, and what WWII-era Germany and Japan have done. Not even close.

I would think a company as large as an airline would have cleared such a thing with their own lawyers, before providing fodder for other people's lawyers in the form of a publicly accessible website. The point is that they made an effort to notify potential customers of their policies, who can...

Again, these weren't mere Cuban tourists on vacation. They were a trade delegation, meaning they directly represent the Cuban government. That's where the rub comes in. There are exceptions to the embargo, just like there are exceptions to the travel ban.

If you folks read that Wikipedia link that I so gracefully provided for Kim (though I doubt he read it), you'll see that it's an issue that is far more complicated than just Fidel and the Bay of Pigs. I don't want to turn this into a political thread (though it's probably inevitable) but it's...

If you're so smart, I'd like to see your solution to the problem. And don't just say "let the Cubans in", I think that's pretty much beyond hope.

And again, that's why I think Hilton may have done what it did, in the hopes that it may force some dialogue on the issue. Consumer power, like any other sort of power, also has the potential for misuse. I'm not sure where you got that from my posts, that you HAD to stay at a Hilton (I...

I'm sure she'll have no problem finding a room at one of her hotels in Oslo ;)

Again, I think the Norwegians are "barking up the wrong tree" as we like to say in America. The issue is with US foreign policy. The poor hotel just got stuck in the middle of it. A more effective protest would be to the US government, via its embassy in Norway, denouncing a policy that would...

Katrina's aftermath should not have been a surprise to anybody. It had long been warned, but those who did so were quickly dismissed as "Chicken Littles" until it happened for real. But that's for another thread. Going back on topic, boycotts against large corporations rarely work. More often...

Perhaps that's where the focus of this "boycott" should be...with the US Embassy in Norway, and not a private US-based company that is being forced to comply with its home laws even abroad. I'm sure the hotel industry has its own lobbyists in Washington. In fact, the word "lobby" in that...

Well, so much for not having an axe to grind with Hilton. Your motivations are very clear with this post. Again, going back to Katrina, I guess it's the fault of the people of New Orleans who chose to live below sea level, bounded almost on all sides by large bodies of water, protected by an...

Kim, I don't want to engage you in an argument here. However, I do feel that the Hilton Group are caught in the crossfire of a US foreign policy that is older than many members of this board, including myself. It's not as clear cut as you make it sound. I'm sure the Hilton Group would...

The Hilton Group aren't exactly living paycheck to paycheck either. Just look at the way Paris lives. I'm sure the Hilton Group were aware of Norway's labor laws when they bought the Scandia chain, and I'm sure they were aware of just how much it would cost them to have to lay off all their...

Not if their hotels aren't making any money. We in the US call it "layoffs." I think the British euphemism is "redundancy."

Does that mean that Paris Hilton is also on the Norwegian boycott list? :D Seriously, all this "boycott" will do is put a lot of local Norwegians out of work. The company appears to be hamstrung by a nearly 45 year old US law (and is not a reflection of the company's preferences, as implied...