Marriott Hotel in Teaneck N.J. By John Chadwick, The Record, Hackensack, N.J.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Jan. 8--One of New Jersey's largest mosques is suing the Marriott hotel in Teaneck (N.J.),
saying the hotel discriminated against Muslims when it refused to make its grand ballroom
available for twice-a-year worship services.
The president of the Darul Islah in Teaneck said the mosque has tried to reserve a large
gathering space at the hotel every year since 1988, but Marriott has agreed to rent the
ballroom to the Muslims only twice.
"I can understand once and a while they would have some conflict, and they cannot rent
it," Waheed Khalid said at a news conference Monday at the mosque. "But this has been
going on for a number of years."
Hamdi Rifai, a lawyer for the mosque, said the hotel's actions violate the state's Law
Against Discrimination. "It's just plain blatant," he said.
The hotel's general manager denied the accusations. "Marriott has a policy of zero
tolerance for discrimination," Mike Kondrat said. "I do business with anybody."
The hotel, at the Glenpointe office complex near Routes 95 and 80, is owned by the
Hackensack (N.J.) developer Alfred Sanzari Enterprises. The mosque, where about 1,000
families regularly worship, is a short distance away, overlooking the New Jersey Turnpike.
Khalid said the rapidly growing mosque has needed extra space for the two most
important days in the Islamic calendar -- the end of Ramadan and the commemoration of
the pilgrimage to Mecca. Several thousand people want to worship at the mosque on
those days, Khalid said.
The lawsuit, filed in state Superior Court in Hackensack, says Marriott refused to make the
ballroom available to the Muslims at the end of Ramadan last month. The hotel rented the
room to the mosque a year earlier, but only after being pressed by Assemblywoman
Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, and the Rev. Stephen Giordano, a Bergenfield (N.J.)
pastor and president of the Bergen County (N.J.) Council of Churches, Khalid said.
In the most recent incident, Khalid said he tried to reserve the room about 10 days in
advance for either Saturday or Sunday morning, Dec. 15 or 16. Because the Muslim
calendar follows a lunar cycle, the mosque was willing to pay for both days because it
didn't know at the time which day the holiday would fall on.
The hotel told Khalid it couldn't accommodate the mosque because it needed time to
prepare for large parties both nights.
But Khalid said he walked into the hotel Saturday and Sunday mornings and saw no one
working in the ballroom. "The hotel ballrooms were vacant and dark with no setup or
activity of any kind taking place for the times requested by the [mosque] for its religious
services," the suit says.
Kondrat, the general manager, said workers should have been there by early morning. "I
don't know what the man saw, or what time he was there, but I know the staff needs a
good eight hours to set this up," Kondrat said.
The lawsuit also says Sanzari Enterprises initially told Muslims they could rent extra
parking space in a parking garage near the hotel, but then abruptly changed its mind.
In the incident last year, the lawsuit says, Marriott agreed to rent the ballroom but set a
condition that the Muslims not remove their shoes. Because Muslims always take their
shoes off when they worship, Khalid said the stipulation was clearly aimed at discouraging
the mosque.
Kondrat, however, said it was a "safety issue." He said he didn't want people walking
barefoot in the lobby outside the ballroom. "There are things that people could drop --
broken glass," he said.
Khalid said the mosque and the hotel reached a compromise that year in which the
Muslims removed their shoes when they got to the ballroom.
Attending Monday's news conference in support of the mosque was Giordano, head of
the council of churches. "We're deeply concerned," he said. "It does give the appearance
of the lack of good neighborly spirit on the part of Marriott as well as Sanzari."
Without the extra space, the mosque must schedule several different prayer sessions and
erect a tent.
The suit seeks unspecified monetary damages. Rifai, the lawyer, said the mosque is more
concerned with obtaining equal access to the hotel. "We're not looking to hurt Marriott,"
he said.
