"No Drone Policy" Over Marriott Newport Coast Resort

pdmike

pdmike

Extremely Popular Member
We are staying at our timeshare at the Marriott Newport Coast Resort. I went out in the parking area and launched the quad. Within 15 seconds, one of the groundskeepers came up to me and told me I would have to bring it down. I asked him to call his supervisor, which he did. In a minute or two, the "chief of security" pulled up in a little golf cart.

"Sir, the Newport Marriott has a no drone policy. You will have to bring the drone down." I asked why they had this policy. "Because people don't want your drone looking in their windows." I told her I wasn't looking in any windows, I wasn't even recording anything and further, I am flying the drone much, much higher than any windows in any of the buildings. Of course, that made no difference.

So then I asked her the Big Question: and what if I refuse to bring the drone down? "Then we will have to evict you from the property."

What do you do with that? If she had said, then they would have to call the police, I would be totally ready but she didn't say that. So, I pulled it down. No sweat, I'll just drive off their property and fly it in some other area - all I want are some good videos of the beach and the surf.

Whether a resort like Marriott can impose an illegal condition on staying there is an interesting, legal question. There is nothing illegal about launching a drone from private property where you are the owner of the private property - and I am an owner here by virtue of my timeshare ownership.

On the other hand, I can see Marriott's point - right or wrong, if other timeshare owners think they are being spied upon, and voice complaints about it to the main office, Marriott has a problem. Still ....

I'm going to call Marriott's legal department and have a little chat with someone.

OK - bring it on .....
 
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Good luck, would guess since it's a private company and private property they can make up their own rules and enforce them insofar as they have the ability to do so without breaking other laws, but my guess is their lawyers write some bits into the terms of the lease agreement or whatever contracts you have to sign to allow them to arbitrarily change the rules and sever the contract at their discretion for whatever reason. I'd be more hopeful but my brother is a lawyer so I've become a bit more familiar with how they think and what kinds of things end up in contracts. The law is a tricky thing they can't just make up new laws and get you into the legal system but they can do whatever they want with their property (within legal bounds again). IANAL.

Perhaps you can get a petition together that outlines some rules for flying that other tenants could agree to, but depends on how much hassle that is vs flying elsewhere. So far I haven't been chased out of any of the parks I fly at, one officer asked me to hold off since he was doing some training exercises with his dog but seemed totally reasonable to me.

The whole privacy thing is pretty stupid next time bring a telephoto camera lens and see what they do when you setup the tripod after landing your quad :)
 
Yeah there isn't a law against it that's why they won't call the police but they can make their own rules because it's their property and they can probably kick you out for not following their rules.

The question you should be asking is why it's a rule in the first place? Maybe people who stay there don't need extra cameras flying around or maybe someone was a jerk and did use a drone to spy into windows.

Either way it's their property their rules.
 
Is the beach private property too or is it public domain? If you stood on the beach and it's public domain, then the resort would be in violation of your constitutional rights for denying your right to fly on public land. Gray areas at best.
 
LoneRCRanger said:
Is the beach private property too or is it public domain? If you stood on the beach and it's public domain, then the resort would be in violation of your constitutional rights for denying your right to fly on public land. Gray areas at best.
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It seems to me it's less a matter of legality or illegality and more a question of practicality. Suppose I launch from the beach (public land) and fly the quad over the resort? Resort vehicle pulls up. "Hey! Aren't you the guy we told not to fly your drone over the resort yesterday? Pack up buddy - you are now evicted." Right or wrong, what am I supposed to do at that point?
 
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Dugdog47 said:
Yeah there isn't a law against it that's why they won't call the police but they can make their own rules because it's their property and they can probably kick you out for not following their rules.

The question you should be asking is why it's a rule in the first place? Maybe people who stay there don't need extra cameras flying around or maybe someone was a jerk and did use a drone to spy into windows.

Either way it's their property their rules.
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How about this one - just down the coast from Newport is the city of Laguna. Laguna has a big sign as you are entering the town: "Drone Flying Prohibited."
A city can enact an ordinance that is criminally enforceable. You cannot be jailed, but you can be fined, subjected to police hassling you, citing you, etc. If you want to contest it, you have to go to court which, in itself, is a huge inconvenience.

An ordinance prohibiting drone flying within city limits is illegal because the city does not have jurisdiction of the airspace over the city itself. But here again - what are you going to do when the cops show up, cite you and confiscate your quad? You can argue constitutionality with the cops until the cows come home, but that isn't going to do you a bit of good in the field. "Tell it to the judge, buddy" and, in the meantime, you are screwed.
 
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pdmike said:
How about this one - just down the coast from Newport is the city of Laguna. Laguna has a big sign as you are entering the town: "Drone Flying Prohibited."
A city can enact an ordinance that is criminally enforceable. You cannot be jailed, but you can be fined, subjected to police hassling you, citing you, etc. If you want to contest it, you have to go to court which, in itself, is a huge inconvenience.

An ordinance prohibiting drone flying within city limits is illegal because the city does not have jurisdiction of the airspace over the city itself. But here again - what are you going to do when the cops show up, cite you and confiscate your quad? You can argue constitutionality with the cops until the cows come home, but that isn't going to do you a bit of good in the field. "Tell it to the judge, buddy" and, in the meantime, you are screwed.
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While maybe they can't stop you from flying over, they can stop you from piloting within.

With hotels and other businesses many things in contracts or agreements are unenforceable, usually the company who put that in there will know but not care as it will stop over 99% of people from doing that unenforceable, unfavorable action or taking them to court to get it changed.

Maybe the hotel can't stop you from flying over, but they might be able to sue you for any money lost due to you flying over, and they can stop you from piloting on their property.

Sometimes that cool spot is just more trouble than it is worth.
 
GJH105775 said:
While maybe they can't stop you from flying over, they can stop you from piloting within.

With hotels and other businesses many things in contracts or agreements are unenforceable, usually the company who put that in there will know but not care as it will stop over 99% of people from doing that unenforceable, unfavorable action or taking them to court to get it changed.

Maybe the hotel can't stop you from flying over, but they might be able to sue you for any money lost due to you flying over, and they can stop you from piloting on their property.

Sometimes that cool spot is just more trouble than it is worth.
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The post you are responding to is about a city, not a resort. I don't think a city can stop you from piloting within because cities have a lot of public land inside of their limits. Suppose I am standing on public property which is inside of the city limit. I don't think they can prevent me from launching a quad from that location. Private property that I don't own that is in city limits - yes, but not public property within cit6y limits.

The hammer the resort (as opposed to a city) has is, we are staying there. They can evict us.

It's a really interesting issue, I think. This afternoon, I am going to hop in the car and drive down the coast highway, trying to find a spot of public land from which I can launch and get some good surf shots. Stay tuned ....
 
Well, the Southern California coast is not a good place to fly a quad. The cities are not quad-friendly and there is no access to the beach in between cities. BTW, the sign when you are entering Laguna says: "Drones Prohibited Over Parks and Beaches." I wonder why that is? I think I know, of course. The city officials picture quad operators as lecherous creeps whose only desire is to cop videos of females in bikinis. What about cameras? Or hand-held video recorders? Last time I looked, those items are not banned from any beach. Just between you and me, if I was disposed to want to get pics of babes in bikinis, I would much rather do it with a camera or a hand-held video recorder. The genius of the bureaucratic, civic legislative mind at work.

In any event, I'm packing it in for this trip. There are plenty of places to fly a quad and get good videos. The beach cities can stuff it.
 
Well, better shut your eyes too when the bikini girls appear. They don't want you looking at them period, whether by quad, camera, or Raybans...
 
LoneRCRanger said:
Well, better shut your eyes too when the bikini girls appear. They don't want you looking at them period, whether by quad, camera, or Raybans...
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If you think bikini girls don't want to be looked at by men, I suggest a quick course in reality.
 
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