Judge: Tea Party Nation founder must pay $748k Las Vegas hotel bill

[sweet-a-kins]

Judge: Tea Party Nation founder must pay $748k Las Vegas hotel bill

A judge has ordered Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips to pay a six-figure hotel bill for a large number of rooms he booked for a tea party rally, which he later cancelled when the event failed to draw enough attendees.

The Venetian Las Vegas Casino Resort alleged that Phillips had reserved 1,637 rooms for the July 2010 event, and then cancelled the reservations just a few weeks before the scheduled date. He did not pay for the rooms.

In a court order last month, which The Tennessean reportedThursday, a judge ruled that Phillips owed the resort $748,000, including the $554,000 hotel bill and $194,300 in accrued interest.

This is not the first time a Republican group has found itself in a bind over an unpaid hotel invoice. In February, the Charleston Place Hotel sued a South Carolina political consultant and the Southern Republican Leadership Conference for an allegedly unpaid hotel bill, FITSNews.com reported.

The conference was held in January, the weekend before the South Carolina Republican primary. The hotel alleged that the conference was “poorly attended,” that consultant Robert Cahaly and the SRLC owed $227,800, and that they had behaved unethically “in an effort to evade their responsibility for payment.”

Sources close to the SRLC told FITSNews that the hotel was attempting to double-bill a number of guests.

The Venetian lodged its legal claim against Judson Phillips in July of 2011. The hotel makes regular appearances in political news since its owner is billionaire Republican mega-donor Sheldon Adelson.

[Fields456]

Wow. That's a Huge bill hope he is super rich

[billsfan1104]

I thought that there is a deposit for the rooms to get them reserved?

[4kidz916]

I thought so as well.  And there's a part of the article that says the hotel was accused of trying to double charge some of the guests.  It's not clear to me if they were speaking of this hotel or the other incident in the article. 

Quoting billsfan1104:

I thought that there is a deposit for the rooms to get them reserved?

[imamomzilla]

 He cancelled a "few weeks before" and was still on the hook?

Doesn't pass the smell test.

[dl42272]

I have to agree.

Quoting imamomzilla:

 He cancelled a "few weeks before" and was still on the hook?

Doesn't pass the smell test.

[trippyhippy]

I guess you would know better then the judge.

Quoting imamomzilla:

 He cancelled a "few weeks before" and was still on the hook?

Doesn't pass the smell test.

[JakeandEmmasMom]

 That's a lot of rooms to try to fill up in a couple of week's time.  I can't imagine that over 1600 rooms would still be subject to the 24 hour cancellation policy. 

For a group of people who love corporations, they sure weren't showing the love here.  Heh.

[sweet-a-kins]

Hotels have different policies for holding rooms. Reserving 1 room and canceling will have a different rule than booking thousands of rooms

Quoting imamomzilla:

 He cancelled a "few weeks before" and was still on the hook?

Doesn't pass the smell test.

[itsmesteph11]

 I agree, usually it's 24 hrs. Too bad the whole story isn't here....

Quoting imamomzilla:

 He cancelled a "few weeks before" and was still on the hook?

Doesn't pass the smell test.

 

[JakeandEmmasMom]

 Do you think that 24 hours is reasonable for over 1600 rooms?

Quoting itsmesteph11:

 I agree, usually it's 24 hrs. Too bad the whole story isn't here....

Quoting imamomzilla:

 He cancelled a "few weeks before" and was still on the hook?

Doesn't pass the smell test.