• Home
  • About Evelyn Kanter
  • Evelyn Kanter’s Books & Apps
  • Evelyn Kanter In The News
  • Workshops
  • NYC Travel Guru

Evelyn Kanter ecoXplorer

green living, smart spending

  • Green Hotels
  • Green Cars
    • Best Cars under $20,000
    • Test Drives
    • Diesel Cars
    • Electric Cars
    • Hybrid Cars
    • Hydrogen Fuel Cell
    • Luxury Drives
  • Travel Deals
    • Free
    • Budget Travel
    • Discount Tickets
  • Xplore More
    • Safety and Health
    • How To
    • Five Best
    • Travel Pioneers
    • Motorcycles
    • Vintage Cars
  • Scam Alert
  • Where to Go Next
    • Historic Travel
    • Epic Adventures
    • National Parks
Home » Avoid These Hotels Owned by Brunei

Avoid These Hotels Owned by Brunei

Leave a Comment

hotels owned by brunei to avoidThe Sultan of Brunei has ordered the death by stoning to anybody who engages in LGBTQ gay sex or adultery.

Since this tiny Arab kingdom owns hotels around the world, including in the USA, you might want to avoid them along with the restaurants by world-famous chefs inside them.

The Sultan of Brunei owns The Dorchester Collection, which includes The Dorchester in London,  Hotel Plaza Athénée in Paris and the Beverly Hills Hotel and the Bel-Air Hotel in Los Angeles.

Restaurants inside his hotels include those operated by world-famous chefs Alain Ducasse and Wolfgang Puck.

Death by Stoning for Gay Sex or Adultery

Starting April 3, 2019, LGBTQ gay sex and adultery will be punishable by death by public stoning in Brunei under a new law that goes into effect that day.

The Draconian new law includes children. Children!

Death by public stoning – just like in the 1400s.  Including children. Children!

Hopefully, that does not include any of the dozen or so children the supreme ruler of Brunei has sired by one of his three wives, or the rest of the royal family.

According to the NY Times, an intriguing aspect of Brunei’s barbarous Shariah laws is that if they were to be really enforced, a few of the sultan’s ridiculously wealthy, jet-setting kin would be leading candidates for death by stoning. 

Let’s repeat that – if this law is enacted fairly, it would include some of the sultan’s own ridiculously wealthy, jet-setting family members.

The law against gay sex and adultery has been on the Brunei books since 2014.

This new ruling from the absolute ruler of the tiny oil-rich kingdom changes jail time to make it a death penalty.

So in addition to the hotels you might want to avoid, in protest, you might want to avoid these restaurants in Brunei-owned hotels.

According to Wikipedia, it includes the world-famous Polo Lounge in Los Angeles so popular with Hollywood celebrities, and restaurants in the Sultan’s other hotels, including those operated by world-famous chefs  Alain Ducasse and Wolfgang Puck

holiday email scams


UPDATE –

Princess Cruises is dropping port calls to Brunei in protest to the harsh new Sharia laws.

George Clooney, Elton John and other celebrities urge boycott of Brunei-owned hotels


Celebrity chefs with restaurants in Brunei-owned hotels in 2019:

  • Alain Ducasse and China Tang at The Dorchester
  • Alain Ducasse au Plaza Athénée
  • Restaurant le Meurice Alain Ducasse
  • La Terrazza at Hotel Eden
  • Wolfgang Puck at Hotel Bel-Air
  • Polo Lounge at the Beverly Hills Hotel
  • Restaurant Coworth Park at Coworth Park
  • CUT at 45 Park Lane
  • Acanto at Hotel Principe di Savoia

There was a boycott of these hotels by Hollywood celebrities and others starting in 2014, when the ridiculously wealthy Sultan of Brunei bought the hotels and also instituted strict Sharia Law in his absolute monarchy little kingdom fueled (pun intended) by oil revenues.

But the boycott flamed out (pun intended, again) because of intense international opposition.

Five years later, the diminutive monarch with three wives and 12 children ruling a diminutive dominion the size of Delaware decided to expand his Medieval version of Sharia Law to death by public stoning, including to children. Children!

Starting April 3, 2019, anybody in Brunei who engages in gay sex or an extramarital affair can be stoned to death – in public.  Including children.

Universal Condemnation for Brunei

The new law has received universal condemnation, including by Amnesty International.

“To legalize such cruel and inhuman penalties is appalling of itself,” Rachel Chhoa-Howard, Amnesty International’s Brunei researcher, said in a statement.

“This new law violates the UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It should be widely condemned,” tweeted Richard Grenell, U.S. ambassador to Germany, who became the first openly gay spokesperson for a Republican presidential candidate in 2012.

Now that the Sultan has escalated his Medieval version of Sharia law, to stone to death anybody so much as thought to be gay, it may be time for the rich and famous, and anybody else who can afford to pay to stay at these luxury hotels, to resume the boycott.

Especially since the diminutive Sultan’s version of Sharia Law includes children.  Children!

Brunei death penalty for gay sexBrunei is one of the World’s Last Remaining Autocracies

Here’s what Investopedia says about Brunei and its autocratic ruler:

Brunei is a Monarchy. Here, the royal institution of sultans — the title of Muslim sovereigns — has been in place since the 14th century. And, since Brunei’s independence from British rule in 1984, only one sultan has reigned — His Majesty, the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah.

The Sultan is the head of state and absolute monarch of Brunei, wielding nearly absolute power.

The Sultan serves as his own prime minister, minister of defense, foreign minister, and minister of finance.

He is advised by several councils, which he appoints. The fact that the Sultan, in his capacity as prime minister, is head of the government means that the Sultan is also the ultimate ruler of the Brunei Investment Agency, which owns the hotels, along with billions of dollars of other investments around the world.

In 2008, Forbes estimated the Sultan’s total peak net worth at approximately $20 Billion, making him one of the world’s richest men.

His Majesty, the Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah – the absolute ruler who has ordered death by public stoning to anybody who is LGBTQ in his kingdom – has been ranked as one of the wealthiest individuals in the world.

After Queen Elizabeth II, the Sultan is the world’s second-longest-reigning current monarch. Thankfully, the Queen is too civilized to order death by stoning to anybody who is LGBTQ, especially children.  Children!

Brunei Investment Agency

Because there is effectively no regulatory oversight in this small nation, there is little public information about the BIA’s governance, assets, investment strategy, or its long-term objectives for the country of Brunei.

Moreover, the agency is highly secretive.

For example, the Brunei Ministry of Finance’s website for the Brunei Investment Agency offers only its hours of operation and an email address for business inquiries. Despite the agency’s ongoing opacity, we do know that, apart from investments within Brunei, BIA’s portfolio contains diverse holdings in bonds, equities, currency, gold, and real estate; and that it has substantial investments in the United States.

Thanks for visiting ecoXplorer. Stay up to date with the latest news about green travel, green cars, smart spending and frugal living by subscribing. It's free. RSS feed.
Welcome back to exoXplorer. Stay up to date with the latest news about green travel, green cars and smart spending by subscribing. It's free. RSS feed.

Related Posts:

  • ecoxplorer
    ecoXplorer Year in Review: Top Stories of 2019
  • best historic golf courses in USA
    24 Best Historic Golf Courses in USA
  • restaurants with the best view
    100 Most Scenic Restaurants in USA in 2017
  • NYC Broadway Week Sept 2025 poster_evelynkanter
    NYC Guide: Best Free & Cheap Things to Do In…
  • President John F. Kennedy and First Lady Jackie Kennedy_nyctravelguru
    New York City Parks Named for Women
  • travel warnings
    Fight Sex Trafficking With Your Camera

Filed Under: Food and Drink, Grab Bag, How To, Where to go Next Tagged With: Alain Ducasse, Beverly Hills Hotel, Brunei, LGBTQ, sharia law, Wolfgang Puck

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

ecoXplorer is your guide to smart spending and eco-friendly living

ecoXplorer is published by Evelyn Kanter, an award-winning journalist with 20+ years of experience as a newspaper and magazine writer, radio & TV news producer & reporter and guidebook author – all focusing on travel, automotive, the environment and your rights as a consumer.

Evelyn Kanter is the President Emeritus of the International Motor Press Assn. (IMPA), a past Board Member of a prestigious professional group for travel journalists, and a member of several other top international organizations of journalists.

Evelyn Kanter is Senior Editor of SeniorsSkiing, which focuses on the 50+ outdoor enthusiast.

Contact me at evelyn@ecoxplorer.com or evelyn@evelynkanter.com.

Search ecoXplorer by category

© 2010-2025 ecoXplorer by Evelyn Kanter. All articles and photos are protected by US (C) Copyright laws. Any unauthorized copying is strictly prohibited. Plus, it’s just not nice.

  • Home
  • About Evelyn Kanter
  • Evelyn Kanter’s Books & Apps
  • Evelyn Kanter In The News
  • Workshops
  • NYC Travel Guru

ecoXplorer.com is an independent information service which is compensated by advertisers and sponsors. This site includes some links to other websites which are compensated for by our sponsors when you click them.