Mike Rinder's Blog

Something Can Be Done About It

Flag is Empty

By 50 Comments

 

They claim it is a 4 star hotel.

This is the peak season in Florida.

Yet while every other hotel is charging the highest prices of the year, they are trying to attract people with special discounts — $113 for a 4 star hotel in Florida in January? Absurd. And breakfast thrown in and chocolate covered strawberries. At this time of year you would be lucky to get into a 2 star hotel for that price.

The place is empty and they are doing anything they can to get some rooms occupied. If Flag was “booming” the Ft Harrison would be full and they would not have room for locals to come in spend the night…

Just more evidence that scientology is shrinking.

Imagine the revenues for the city of Clearwater if this WAS a 4 star hotel paying not only bed/tourist tax but also property tax? And the empty monstrosity across the street (the SP Building) too (we know that’s empty because there’s nobody in the Ft Harrison hotel or the Oak Cove hotel the next biggest hotel in downtown Clearwater)?

Scientology pretends it brings in tens of thousands of visitors to Clearwater each year.

Their own promotional pieces expose their lies.

Comments

  1. The biggest sign that this is just a loser business. Non alcoholic champagne is a treat? That is pathetic.

    Reply

  3. When I was in the neighborhood a few weeks ago I was surprised at how there was no one to be seen at all around flag, except the minions getting on or off their bus. No public Scientologists around, no people period.

    Reply

  5. SSSuuurrreeee….”we will be MORE than happy to book as many rooms as you need for you….All we need is your CREDIT CARD NUMBER & Personal Information”…..so we can add you to our mailing list(s)!!!1

    .OOOhhhh yes,..yes indeed offer a free breakfast……..& we DO have free chocolate covered strawberries & a complimentary glass of “bubbly”……….

    I might add that as our “guest” we are offering a FREE Personality Test & a free movie and a cfree copy of Lron’s….BEST book…..maybe you’ve heard of ……………

    Okay so I am going to be EVIL here….PLEASE forgive me…..but I think the next HOWDYCON SHOULD BE BOOKED IN CLEARWATER WITH RESERVATIONS AT THE FORT HARRISON……

    .

    Reply

    • High-larious!!! Although, frankly, I’d be afraid to stay there for fear they’d never let me leave. Sounds like the makings of a horror movie.

      Reply

  6. So happy to see this. Thanks for the update Mike. Keep it up. I love post showing their shrinking numbers. Woot woot.

    Reply

  8. “The place is empty and they are doing anything they can to get some rooms occupied.”

    Hmm, maybe they could change the name to attract a wider audience. I would suggest something like The BrimStone, or maybe, The Black Hole. Maybe the Soul Catcher?

    Reply

    • THEY CLAIM THE ORGS ARE A SERVICE TO THE COMMUNITY SINCE THEY ARE BOUGHT WITH TAX EXEMPT “donations” ! HOW CAN THEY RUN IT AS A BUSINESS AND SELL HOTEL ROOMS!??

      Reply

  9. Who would want to stay at a $cieno ‘hotel’ right next to the Stupid Powerz building? This lack of paying customers for the ‘Mecca’ of $cientology speaks to a lack of customers and the marketing failure of $cientology in general.

    Reply

    • Just to clarify something that might not be understood regarding that promotional piece. That is only mailed out to “local” Scientologists in the Tampa area. Non Scientologists can not generally rent a room in the Fort Harrison. The exception is when Scientology holds a convention for a specific non Scientology guest list that they have invited for PR reasons. Example a group of Black religious leaders, a group of American Indian leaders, etc. Flag Crew refers to Scientologists within driving distance of Clearwater as “locals” and they will try to get those members to visit Flag for any reason possible. There is a statistic closely monitored called Bodies In The Shop (BIS). Gross Income (GI) tends to parallel BIS and so there is a lot of attention in increasing it. If “Joe Blow” non Scientologist drives up to the Fort Harrison not only can’t they rent a room, they can’t enter the building without being invited. There is both “church” and professional hired security personnel at the front door. The Scientology buildings and surrounding areas have monitored cameras all over them.

      Reply

      • Great article, great news, Mike, and thanks for your post, Matt, as you just answered my related questions.

        Reply

  12. I wish the hotel room tax payments were publicly available, which would tell us a lot about what is really going on – unfortunately Pinellas County doesn’t release details, so this is yet another case in which we need an inside source or whistleblower to reveal the truth.

    I’d also love to see Clearwater or some public service institution commission another, more accurate, economic impact study by USF or a reputable academic institution, to replace the one that Scientology bought and paid for, and provided the “stats” for. If nothing else there’s an argument that Scientology’s is now too dated to be relevant, given evidence like this that their economic impact is likely declining if not crashing. It would be great if Mark Bunker could take that on.

    Reply

  13. Flag Crew is the Scientology organization in Clearwater responsible for the hotels, restaurants, buildings, staff and public food, transport, berthing and security. That includes things like all the cleaning, maintenance, grounds, maintaining a large fleet of buses, vans and cars, running an energy plant for the SP building, producing furniture for itself and other “ideal orgs”, staffing its own administration jobs, etc. The scope is HUGE. Flag Crew celebrated having 200 staff in 1986. In 2005 it still had only 200 staff! The place was in complete overwhelm with only 2 maintenance men, 1 engineer, 1 mechanic, 1 groundsman, all hands drivers using their sleep and study time, a handful of maids each responsible for 50 or more rooms, etc, etc. Recruitment was all but impossible with only a trickle coming from places like South America and Russia. It was a constant struggle to pays the bills of fuel, electric, food, some pay (maybe), and even toilet paper. Add to that all the additional properties added in Clearwater in the last 25 years and you can start to understand the impossible overwhelm. Any new staff are so over worked that they soon take off realizing the “utopia” they thought they were going to was a lie. They return back to their original country and warn others about becoming staff at Flag, making recruitment even more impossible. It’s a vicious cycle. Under all that “expansion” is a nightmare.

    Reply

    • Somehow, I suspect people who agree to spend the next billion years “helping Ron clear the planet” are surprised to learn they’re going to spend that eternity cleaning toilets of wealthy Scilons who can drop tens of thousands of dollars on services at a time, while making little or no progress up the “Bridge” themselves.

      Reply

    • Mat,
      Do you happen to know if one wanted to get a refund of money “on account” at the hotel, would they be required to do it without going through the claims routing form?

      Seems like they would have to refund money at a hotel if one were no longer welcomed to stay there.

      Reply

      • Ya, the person would need to go though the claims routing form. I left 15 years ago and at that time both the money paid for hotel service and the money paid for Scientology training and auditing were being given back. It was a routine weekly thing. When I was the Treasury Sec for the FSO (1995 – 2002) about $100,000 was routinely paid out weekly. From what I understand that was pretty much shut down since then, despite being per long standing policy (since the 1960’s) of Scientology. I have heard of some money being given back over the last decade but I don’t know what the circumstances were. I think that if a person is owed money from Scientology that they should at least try to get the money back and make a record of it. If they are denied they should send a report to both the FBI and the IRS so that it is on record with them. The wrong thing to do is, DO NOTHING.

        Reply

  14. ‘Scientology pretends it brings in tens of thousands of visitors to Clearwater each year.
    Their own promotional pieces expose their lies.’

    This may well be, but meantime, the Cult is hauling in Million$ annually in pharmaceutical investments willed them by Duggan; I’m sure the Runt is ‘crying all the way to the bank’.

    Reply

    • To: Belynda
      From: David Miscavige COB RTC
      Re: crying all the way to the bank.

      I do not cry all the way to the bank because I do not even go to the bank. When I need to make deposits or withdrawals I have some other poor schlub do that for me.

      And stop calling me a runt!

      ML
      Dave.

      Reply

  15. O/T. Claim that contract between Baguio City and the Scientology-linked The Way to Happiness Philippines Foundation Inc. is in violation of the non-establishment clause.

    Baguio City gov’t in constitutional controversy

    https://tribune.net.ph/index.php/2020/01/05/baguio-city-govt-in-constitutional-controversy/

    * * * * * BEGIN EXCERPT * * * * *

    Published 22 hours ago on January 5, 2020 12:20 AM
    By Victor Avecilla

    There’s a legal controversy in Baguio, and it involves the separation of Church and State as mandated by the Constitution.

    Under Section 29 (2), Article VI of the Constitution, “no public money or property shall be appropriated, applied, paid, or employed, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, sectarian institution, or system of religion, or of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher, or dignitary as such….”

    Last month, the Baguio-Benguet Ecumenical Group (BBEG) revealed that the Baguio City government headed by Mayor Benjamin Magalong will pay P4 million in public funds for a so-called leadership and values training course being given to city government employees by the Way to Happiness Philippines Foundation Inc.

    The BBEG asserts that the foundation has very close ties to the late L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, a controversial religion established in the United States in the 1950s.

    [SNIP]

    The BBEG told the Baguio City Council that employing a religious organization like the Way to Happiness Philippines Foundation Inc. to do what is essentially government work violates the constitutionally mandated separation of Church and State cited above.

    One foundation official claims its members are not Scientologists, and are volunteers from various faiths who use Hubbard’s book as an inspiration for a moral, value-centered lifestyle.

    Mayor Magalong sided with the foundation. Although he opined that the training provided by the foundation is not anchored on religion, he did not explain the reason for his statement.

    From all available indications, the Way to Happiness Philippines Foundation Inc. appears to be engaged in a religious activity, akin to the promotion of the religion called Scientology.

    Its title alone is a giveaway. Naming the foundation after a cornerstone book used by an established international religion strongly suggests a link between the foundation and that religion.

    Since the Way to Happiness Philippines Foundation Inc. has the badges of a religious organization, the P4 million deal between it and the Baguio City government invites a taxpayer class suit, an anti-graft case even, for violating the separation of Church and State clause of the Constitution.

    * * * * * END EXCERPT * * * * *

    Reply

  16. I am sure people do not feel welcome when, after crossing the threshold, a Security Guard is right there with a threatening look, you know, just checking you out.

    Reply

  17. You’re dealing with numbers, and connecting dots. They’re generally not very good with numbers, and they’re not allowed to connect dots.

    Reply

  19. These stats, or lack thereof, is like a welcoming greeting card to 2020! Fair winds and smoother sailing for the large and growing anti scio group. Group? Perhaps “throng” would be the better description. 🙂

    Press on, Mike and Leah. You both already stand head and shoulders above the rotting disorganization of scio. And the stench will continue.

    WELL DONE IN 2019. GREATER ACHIEVEMENTS TO COME!!!

    Reply

  20. I don’t understand something. If the Fort Harrison Hotel is not limited to Scientology parishioners and is open to the non-Scientologist general public, how is it that it is not paying bed/tourist tax and property tax? Wouldn’t such taxes be proportioned at the very least? Or is the featured ad limited to only Scientology parishioners?

    Reply

    • They do pay bed tax and property tax on the percentage of the buildings not used for “religious purposes”

      Reply

  21. The only way to fill Flag would be to cycle it into the Satanic Holidays. They could get large crowds to attend. 30 April-May 1st, June 21 and December 21. These are all Satanic Holidays that they can plan around. Forget Christmas. Scientology is anti Christian. Get real Scientologists. By the way, Satan loved chocolate covered strawberries.

    Reply

      • Have to say; if I didn’t know anything about Scientology – a HUGE, “If” – have to say, I’d be quite tempted by this promo for a long weekend in Florida in January!

        $113 a night, breakfast included, Satanic Strawberries, etc 🙂

        But then I’d be a pedestrian non-Scn and as such not allowed in.

        Then again, maybe they’d use their hotel room deal as a bargaining chip to get me to sign up for an intro course or something.

        I could tell them my “ruin” is missing out on great hotel room deals…

        “Really? Scientology can help you with that!”

        Reply

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