Yesterday, I wrote about how the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) put Hilton on blast, after at least one Hampton Inn near Minneapolis refused to house Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. The hotel reached out to ICE agents with bookings and told them they weren’t welcome at the hotel.
As you’d expect, this drew mixed reactions. So along those lines, there’s a major update, as a lot has happened in the past day…
Hampton Inn at center of ICE controversy gets in trouble
The primary property at the center of this controversy is the Hampton Inn in Lakeville, Minnesota. After being put on blast by DHS and ICE, Hilton was forced to take action quickly, though the response was sort of flubbed.
It’s worth noting that the hotel is owned by Everpeak Hospitality, as this property is simply a Hilton franchise location (as is the case for a vast majority of Hilton properties). Within hours of the incident, the company released the following statement, claiming it has already addressed these concerns:
Everpeak Hospitality has moved swiftly to address this matter as it was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all. We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure they are accommodated. We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted. We are committed to welcoming all guests and operating in accordance with brand standards, applicable laws, and our role as a professional hospitality provider.
Late last night, a conservative X user with a big following showed up at the hotel that had “apologized” for banning DHS agents, only to find that the hotel was continuing to ban DHS agents. He posted a video of his experience trying to book a room there on the spot, where the front desk agent informed him that they’re not accepting bookings from any ICE agents.
He even read the front desk agent the statement that Everpeak Hospitality published, but that didn’t change anything (in fairness, the guy said he was new, and he couldn’t get in touch with any manager — obviously this guy was just in the wrong place at the wrong time).
Following that, it didn’t take long for Hilton to act, as the hotel giant has now confirmed that this property has been removed from its system:
The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this. A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values. As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. Hilton is — and has always been — a welcoming place for all. We are also engaging with all of our franchisees to reinforce the standards we hold them to across our systems to help ensure this does not happen again.
Hilton ultimately made the right decision here
As you’d expect, the initial concept of the Hampton Inn Lakeville banning ICE agents was controversial, and very polarizing:
- Some people praised the hotel for taking a stand against ICE, given the organization’s controversial practices
- Some people attacked the hotel for its lack of patriotism, and for denying service to a paying customer
- People on both sides used “the gay wedding cake” example, when it comes to denying service
Regardless of how you feel about that topic, I think here’s something most reasonable people should be able to agree on — the company that owns the hotel majorly screwed up the response.
The hotel apologized, claimed it addressed the issues and welcomes all, and said it reached out to impacted guests… only for the front desk agent to not be made aware of that, apparently? That’s a major problem, and incredibly unprofessional.
Given how quickly this became a global news story, you’d think they would’ve put a little more effort into managing this situation, rather than having some new employee being the only person on duty at the property, not even able to get in touch with a manager (though I guess they weren’t expecting someone to show up at the property and film in this way?).
I’d be fascinated to know what the real backstory here is. Did the company that owns the hotel set the policy of not welcoming ICE agents, did the general manager or front office manager set the policy, or what?
One thing is for sure — companies don’t want to get on Trump’s bad side, given how he likes to treat his “allies” nicely, and punish companies and people that don’t do what he wants. So I think Hilton hade no choice here, given the abysmal response.
Bottom line
Hilton made global headlines after a Hampton Inn in Minnesota canceled the reservations of ICE agents, and said they weren’t welcome there. This was a franchise property, and the owners claimed that they welcome all, and that they would correct this immediately.
However, someone showed up at the property the night of the incident, only to find the policy still in place. As you’d expect, this put Hilton in a really tough spot, and Hilton cut ties with the hotel, and promised to clarify its policy on this with all individual hotels.
There’s no denying that Hilton acted swiftly here, as the Hampton Inn was deflagged less than 24 hours after this controversy arose.
What do you make of Hilton’s handling of this situation?
