Licensing Board to Airport Hilton: Do not disrespect the police

The Boston Licensing Board today put the Airport Hilton on notice: Give the local constabulary any guff and the result could be a license suspension.

At issue was a surprise license inspection by two BPD detectives on March 23. The detectives told the board at a hearing Tuesday that the hotel restaurant manager at first refused to let them because they had not made an appointment. He then called the hotel security director, who told the detectives they could carry out their inspection but that in the future, they should make an appointment.

"We don't make appointments," Det. Kevin McGill said.

Hotel attorney Andrew Upton apologized to the board, said the hotel realized the behavior was wrong and that the restaurant manager's employment status was now "tenuous" because of the incident.

Despite his apology, board Chairwoman Nicole Murati Ferrer made it clear she wouldn't tolerate any such behavior in the future. The whole point of surprise inspections is surprise, she said.

"You do understand that just because you're a hotel or just because you're at the airport you don't get special treatment," she told Upton and two hotel managers who attended the hearing.

At a meeting today, the board voted to suspend the hotel's license for one day, but to suspend the punishment to see if the hotel shapes up.