NRA loyalty: HotelPlanner CEO refuses to cut ties with organization

Since the Parkland, Florida school shooting left 17 people, mostly students, dead on Valentine’s Day, a number of major U.S. companies have announced plans to sever ties with the National Rifle Association, thanks, in part, to mounting pressure from gun control advocates.

But Tim Hentschel, the CEO of HotelPlanner.com, says he’ll continue to honor his contract with the NRA, which offers access to the company’s discounted group rates for hotel bookings.

“It’s not about politics at all,” he told FOX Business’ Stuart Varney on Wednesday. “It’s about classic hospitality and not getting involved in a boycott war.”

That may be the case for Hentschel, but since he’s made the announcement that he plans to stick with the NRA, he’s been personally attacked by groups and people who think he should do otherwise, he said.

Some have accused him of being an out-of-touch, privileged CEO, but Hetschel said he grew up homeless, living out of a car in South Los Angeles, an area of the city that struggled with poverty and high crime rates in the 1980s and 1990s, before he was adopted.

“I know what it’s like to feel vulnerable and scared. It’s not about me, it’s not about personal beliefs,” he said. “It’s just about the right for businesses to honor contracts. I have a contract, and I will honor it, and I will stand by it.”

Companies that have announced they will no longer work with the NRA include Delta Air Lines, United Airlines, the First National Bank of Omaha, Enterprise Holdings, Avis Budget Group Co. and Hertz Global Holdings Co., along with several others.