Adam's Mark Offers Racial-Suit Settlement

St. Louis — Adam's Mark Hotels has submitted a settlement offer to the U.S. Department of Justice in an effort to end the racial discrimination suit filed against the chain.

The essence of the offer is that Adam's Mark will hire Project Equality, a non-profit organization that conducts evaluations of corporate equal opportunity policies, to perform an independent audit of its employment practices and the way it treats minority guests.

"If we have made any mistakes, and if any improvement is needed, Project Equality will let us know that and will provide the training to help us do a better job," said Fred Kummer Sr., the chairman and CEO of HBE Corp., the privately held company that owns Adam's Mark.

"We want to assure our guests that we will not tolerate any form of discrimination in any of our hotels. Period. At the same time, we are continually striving to improve and welcome any recommendations that might result from Project's Equality's review."

The chain said it also will submit periodic reports to the DOJ.

"These are the concepts the DOJ has proposed [as the basis for a settlement]," said Kummer Sr. "We believe the allegations are unfounded, but we want to demonstrate absolute commitment to diversity."

Adam's Mark, which announced its offer Feb. 24, expects the Justice Department to respond to its offer in the next few days. While the DOJ would not comment on the status of the settlement offer, Fred Kummer III, executive vice president of Adam's Mark, said he was "fairly confident" the government would accept the offer, which does not contain any admission of wrongdoing.

Kummer Sr. said, in light of the settlement offer, Adam's Mark plans to contact convention groups that have cancelled meetings and ask them to reconsider.

But the offer is "too little, too late," in the words of Lee Formwalt, executive director of the Organization of American Historians (OAH), which has cancelled all its meeting space and public functions at the Adam's Mark St. Louis for its annual convention March 30-April 2.

Depending on how much function space the hotel is able to resell, and depending on how many members decide to still book into the group's contracted block of 2,183 rooms, OAH faces as much as $600,000 in damage charges — about half its annual operating budget.

Formwalt said OHA would not volunteer to pay a penny and that Adam's Mark would have to sue.

"We know we're taking a financial risk, but we think it's worth it to do what we feel is right," said Formwalt, who has asked members to contribute to a special fund to help cover the costs of any suit and/or damage claims.

Formwalt