A woman walks down to the grand room in the lobby of the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Conference Center in Aurora during the opening on Dec. 18, 2018. It is Colorado’s largest hotel. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
For the second time in six weeks, a prominent hotel has asked a judge here to determine that a company must reimburse it for a canceled conference during the pandemic.
On Oct. 29, the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center sued Astellas, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, for $1.8 million. Like a similar case filed in September, the Gaylord’s will likely hinge on whether a so-called “act of God” clause in its convention contract applies.
The Gaylord said that Astellas agreed to hold an event there from April 21 to May 1, 2021. The pharmaceutical company was to rent 6,470 sleeping room nights, including some at a rate of $1,400 per night, and spend $975,000 on food and drinks, the Gaylord said.
Their agreement included a clause that allowed either side to cancel in cases of “acts of God or other casualty, natural disaster, war, government regulations, terrorism, or civil disorder making it illegal or impossible to provide the facilities or hold the meeting,” the Gaylord says.
Astellas was also allowed to cancel “if Astellas deemed it necessary to ban all company travel due to situations beyond Astellas’ control,” according to the contract that it signed.
When, in November 2020, the pharmaceutical company notified the Gaylord’s manager, Marriott, that it would not be coming to Colorado, it cited that latter clause, according to the hotel. “Astellas management has deemed it necessary to restrict all company travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the foreseeable future,” Astellas reportedly wrote in a letter.
Without citing evidence, the Gaylord alleges that Astellas did not ban all company travel and therefore the cancellation clause cannot apply. It said that it sent a letter to Astellas demanding proof “that no Astellas employee traveled on company business during November 3, 2020 to May 1, 2021” and didn’t hear back.
The hotel, Colorado’s largest, initially demanded $1.5 million and then lowered its demand to $1 million after noting it had rented out some of the rooms that Astellas initially reserved. When the pharmaceutical firm didn’t pay, Marriott sued it in Denver’s federal court on Oct. 29. When 3.5 years of interest is added in, Marriott is seeking $1.8 million from Astellas.
Spokespeople for Astellas did not answer BusinessDen’s requests for comment on the case.
The plaintiff’s lawyer is Steven Rudner of the Rudner Law Offices in Dallas, Texas.
A convention space within Sheraton Hotel Denver Downtown. (Courtesy Sheraton Hotel Denver Downtown)
The Gaylord case is similar to one that the Sheraton Hotel Downtown Denver filed in late September. It is accusing Mobile Electronics Specialists of America, a trade group, of reneging on plans for a conference in September 2020. The hotel is seeking about $270,000.
“COVID-19 was indubitably an act of God, and what followed were a bevy of state and local government regulations on human activity and travel,” Michael Kuhn, an attorney for the trade group, wrote in a motion to dismiss the Sheraton’s case in late October.
“When MESA terminated the contract on March 16, 2020, the government had imposed a ‘new normal’ — one where people were forcibly isolated and could not attend small, much less large, gatherings,” Kuhn wrote. “As a matter of law, this provided justification to terminate.”
A woman walks down to the grand room in the lobby of the Gaylord Rockies Resort and Conference Center in Aurora during the opening on Dec. 18, 2018. It is Colorado’s largest hotel. (RJ Sangosti, The Denver Post)
For the second time in six weeks, a prominent hotel has asked a judge here to determine that a company must reimburse it for a canceled conference during the pandemic.
On Oct. 29, the Gaylord Rockies Resort & Convention Center sued Astellas, a Japanese pharmaceutical company, for $1.8 million. Like a similar case filed in September, the Gaylord’s will likely hinge on whether a so-called “act of God” clause in its convention contract applies.
The Gaylord said that Astellas agreed to hold an event there from April 21 to May 1, 2021. The pharmaceutical company was to rent 6,470 sleeping room nights, including some at a rate of $1,400 per night, and spend $975,000 on food and drinks, the Gaylord said.
Their agreement included a clause that allowed either side to cancel in cases of “acts of God or other casualty, natural disaster, war, government regulations, terrorism, or civil disorder making it illegal or impossible to provide the facilities or hold the meeting,” the Gaylord says.
Astellas was also allowed to cancel “if Astellas deemed it necessary to ban all company travel due to situations beyond Astellas’ control,” according to the contract that it signed.
When, in November 2020, the pharmaceutical company notified the Gaylord’s manager, Marriott, that it would not be coming to Colorado, it cited that latter clause, according to the hotel. “Astellas management has deemed it necessary to restrict all company travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the foreseeable future,” Astellas reportedly wrote in a letter.
Without citing evidence, the Gaylord alleges that Astellas did not ban all company travel and therefore the cancellation clause cannot apply. It said that it sent a letter to Astellas demanding proof “that no Astellas employee traveled on company business during November 3, 2020 to May 1, 2021” and didn’t hear back.
The hotel, Colorado’s largest, initially demanded $1.5 million and then lowered its demand to $1 million after noting it had rented out some of the rooms that Astellas initially reserved. When the pharmaceutical firm didn’t pay, Marriott sued it in Denver’s federal court on Oct. 29. When 3.5 years of interest is added in, Marriott is seeking $1.8 million from Astellas.
Spokespeople for Astellas did not answer BusinessDen’s requests for comment on the case.
The plaintiff’s lawyer is Steven Rudner of the Rudner Law Offices in Dallas, Texas.
A convention space within Sheraton Hotel Denver Downtown. (Courtesy Sheraton Hotel Denver Downtown)
The Gaylord case is similar to one that the Sheraton Hotel Downtown Denver filed in late September. It is accusing Mobile Electronics Specialists of America, a trade group, of reneging on plans for a conference in September 2020. The hotel is seeking about $270,000.
“COVID-19 was indubitably an act of God, and what followed were a bevy of state and local government regulations on human activity and travel,” Michael Kuhn, an attorney for the trade group, wrote in a motion to dismiss the Sheraton’s case in late October.
“When MESA terminated the contract on March 16, 2020, the government had imposed a ‘new normal’ — one where people were forcibly isolated and could not attend small, much less large, gatherings,” Kuhn wrote. “As a matter of law, this provided justification to terminate.”
