Larry Whitten, Taos, NM, Hotel Owner, Comes Under Fire for Asking Hispanic Employees to Anglicize Spanish First Names

Larry Whitten, a former Marine, resurrected a failing hotel the Paragon Inn in Taos, New Mexico, but what happened when he took over is just downright discriminatory. He forbade the Hispanic workers at the hotel, renamed the Whitten Inn, from speaking Spanish in his presence and ordered them to Anglicize their names. You know, instead of Marcos, Mark would be the new name. His management style worked as he turned around other distressed hotels he purchased in recent years, but he wasn't prepared for the fallout. His rules and his terminations of several Hispanic employees angered many in the area. Former workers, their relatives and some of the town's residents picketed across the street from the hotel and, in essence, brought the issue to the national stage. Mr. Whitten should have taken the time to learn about the culture of Taos and the heavy Hispanic influence before purchasing the hotel.

Whitten spent 40 years in the hotel business and turned around more than 20 hotels in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida and South Carolina before moving with his wife to Taos from Abilene, Texas. When he took over the hotel, he reportedly said that he immediately noticed that they were hostile towards his management style and he feared that they might start talking about him in Spanish. Is he really racist or is he just asking his Hispanic employees to be respectful and mindful of the fact that he doesn't speak their language? I think it is just bad manners for people to converse in another language in front of someone else who isn't.

What I do find disturbing is Mr. Whitten's request that his Hispanic workers change their Spanish first names. That's just ridiculous and may reinforce the position of the workers that they are being discriminated against. He said that it is a routine practice at his hotels to change first names of employees who work the front desk phones or deal directly with guests if their names are difficult to understand or pronounce. Is Juan, Pedro, Marcos, Jose, Jesus, Enrique and Alejandro hard to pronounce or remember? I scarcely believe so. He said, "It has nothing to do with racism. I'm not doing it for any reason other than for the satisfaction of my guests, because people calling from all over America don't know the Spanish accents or the Spanish culture or Spanish anything." Really? He's basically saying his guests are stupid.

Mr. Whitten should have familiarized himself with the Spanish culture and the local culture of Taos before he purchased the hotel. He has reportedly made comments to the local media, referring to townspeople as "mountain people" and "potheads who escaped society." He cannot possibly think anyone in their right minds would tolerate such a despicable behavior from anyone, much less a businessman. I guess he summed up his predicament better than anyone else could. He said in an interview, "What kind of fool or idiot or poor businessman would I be to orchestrate this cray thing that's costed me a lot of time, money and aggravation?" Yeah, you are a fool alright. I was on his side with conversing in Spanish before him since he didn't speak the language, but he lost me with the name calling and changing Spanish first names. His demands are just discriminatory and plain crazy.