Around 4 p.m. on Saturday, the hotel began issuing eviction notices to the Daddyland circuit weekend guests staying at the hotel.
The notice was straight to the point, and read, “We’re sorry it didn’t work out …THE OWNER OF THE HOTEL is requesting you LEAVE (IMMEDIATELY).”
The notice also said that all further Daddyland-related events were canceled and that attendees were required to be out of the hotel by 6 p.m.
I dunno what happens at Daddyland but evidently the hotel won't abide by whatever happened at Daddyland on Friday night. pic.twitter.com/iAykCSWVFo
— Darren Mckeeman (@tjcrowley) July 8, 2024
According to the owner of the hotel, Terry Tognazzini, members of the Daddyland party were contractually obligated to follow a dress code in the hotel's public areas. In the private areas, the rules were more lax.
“Our rules say that they follow dress codes,” says Tognazzini. “[And] they came in here and they kind of went wild, so we threw them all out.”
Tognazzini says the hotel lost about “50 or 60 guests” as a result of Daddyland members running through the halls and the lobby without proper dress. He did not specify how attendees violated the dress code. The hotel's website does not list a dress code, and Daddyland's promo photos show a group of men who are shirtless save for an occasional pop of leather.
According to reporting from The Advocate, anonymous members of the party said their dress was not controversial. One attendee said they saw members of the AKA sorority and attendees complimenting each other’s outfits.
A Daddyland staff member who also spoke to The Advocate under the condition of anonymity, said the event, which has happened at the same hotel in years past, followed all the usual protocols.
Tognazzini emphasizes that the hotel's decision was solely based on the dress code violations in public areas and the complaints from other guests.
The rumor mill was working overtime after the eviction. A popular post on Facebook said there was a naked partygoer passed out in the lobby; other posts speculated that used needles were found and that a partygoer exposed themself to a member of the AKA sorority in the elevator.
According to Tognazzini, none of that was true, and the decision to evict occupants of 88 rooms of the hotel, costing the hotel $60,000–70,000 was solely the result of dress code violations in the public areas.
This didn’t quell other suspicions, however.
According to Jason Martinez, a former Daddyland staff member who worked for promoter Ersin Winokur for the last six years helping to put on these circuit parties, communication between the promoter and the hotel had been strained, with Winokur not responding to the hotel’s complaints nor to Martinez.
In an exchange of texts shared with the Observer, Martinez reached out to Winokur multiple times with no response, via text and WhatsApp.
“We have an issue with host hotel,” Martinez messaged on May 4. “I can’t find you anywhere and it says your phone is disconnected or something.”
The issue, according to Martinez, was the promotion of a “boom boom room,” commonly referred to as a “dark room” at the party.
“The hotel called twice. I told [the hotel representative] I couldn’t reach you,” texted Martinez on May 9.
On May 10, Martinez followed up with, “There is no possible way that you don’t have a phone by now and I have phone calls from the hotel. [A representative of the hotel] is trying to call you. You have to remove the boom boom room from all the advertisements. They’re coming on him we’ve done no marketing I can’t reach you. I cannot do this again.”
Despite this, Tognazzini denied any knowledge of a “boom boom room” at the hotel.
“I went and visited them, and it was supervised and everything,” Tognazzini says. “I think whatever this boom boom room is kind of a lot of bullshit.”
Hotel group IHG has not responded to a request for comment regarding any “boom boom rooms.”
However, Winokur has put on events in March of this year at the Crowne Plaza Hotel Downtown that clearly advertise a “boom boom room” at the party for an additional cost.
The promo says “DADDY ERSIN presents MEGA RAM.” On the bottom, in smaller font, right under “CROWNE PLAZA DALLAS DOWNTOWN BALLROOM” it says “VIP BOOM BOOM ROOM.”
