Two major hotel chains have cut ties with the NRA - and as boycotts loom, they want everyone to know

Associated Press/Brynn Anderson

Marylene Dinliana, 18, holds a sign that reads, "Stop Spilling Our Blood" during a protest against guns on the steps of the Broward County Federal courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, Florida

• Best Western and Wyndham Hotels ended their relationships with the NRA - though, apparently not in direct response to the Parkland, Florida shooting.
• Gun control activists are organizing boycotts against companies with ties to the NRA.
• The two hotel chains were previously targeted in a boycott campaign following the 2012 Newtown, Connecticut school shooting.

As gun control activists organize boycotts against companies with ties to the National Rifle Association, Wyndham Hotels and Best Western want everyone to know they are not affiliated with the gun rights group.

People on social media are calling for boycotts of companies including FedEx, Norton Security, Best Western, and Wyndham Hotels that offer - or have offered - special deals for NRA members. As part of their membership, NRA members receive discounts on things from renting cars to buying prescription drugs.

However, while Wyndham Hotels previously offered a 10% discount to NRA members, the hotel chain no longer does so.

Wyndham

Just a few of dozens of tweets denying ties to the NRA

This week, the Twitter accounts for Wyndham and its rewards program tweeted dozens of times that the hotel chain "is no longer affiliated with the NRA" in response to boycott threats.

A Wyndham representative told Business Insider the company ended its relationship with the NRA in late 2017, prior to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida that sparked recent boycott efforts.

Best Western has been similarly targeted by boycott efforts, as the hotel chain offered NRA members discounts as recently as 2016.

In response, Best Western has tweeted dozens of times that the company "does not have an affiliation with and is not a corporate partner of the National Rifle Association."

Best Western

It is unclear when Best Western cut ties with the NRA. The company did not respond to Business Insider's request for comment or further information.

Both hotel chains have been targeted in past boycotts organized by gun control activists.

In 2012, activist group Avaaz organized a boycott calling for Wyndham and Best Western to cut ties with the NRA following the school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. At the time, both hotel chains were listed on the gun rights group's website as "friends of the NRA" and offered members discounts at hotels.

"It's time for mainstream companies like Wyndham Hotels to get out of bed with the extremist NRA," Avaaz campaigner Joseph Huff-Hannon said in 2012, The Guardian reported.

The February 14 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School seems to be sparking similar calls for boycotts of companies with ties to the NRA - and producing results.

On Thursday, the First National Bank of Omaha and rental-car giant Enterprise Holdings announced that they were cutting ties with the NRA after boycotts were organized on social media.

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