Every once in a while I’ll write about a hotel canceling a guest’s reservation with questionable merit. Well, this has just been taken to the next level, as the federal government is accusing Hilton of canceling reservations of immigration agents. As you’d expect, this is drawing mixed reactions.
DHS accuses Hilton of canceling ICE hotel stays
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) social media presence is quite something nowadays. A few hours ago, the official DHS X account posted about an issue with Hilton that’s impacting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, which has been viewed millions of times.
DHS claims that Hilton has “launched a coordinated campaign in Minneapolis to REFUSE service to DHS law enforcement,” claiming that “when officers attempted to book rooms using official government emails and rates, Hilton Hotels maliciously CANCELLED their reservations.”
DHS says “this is UNACCEPTABLE,” and asks “why is Hilton Hotels siding with murderers and rapists to deliberately undermine and impede DHS law enforcement from their mission to enforce our nation’s immigration laws?”
The post contains two screenshots of emails that are reportedly from official Hilton email addresses. One reads as follows:
After further investigation online, we have found information about immigration work connected with your name and we will be cancelling your upcoming reservation. You should see a proper cancellation email in your inbox shortly from Hilton.
And the other reads as follows, and is signed by a Hilton front office manager:
This email is in regards to the reservation you made with the Hampton Inn Lakeville property.
We have noticed an influx of GOV reservations made today that have been for DHS, and we are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property. If you are with DHS or immigration, let us know as we will have to cancel your reservation.
Please pass on this info to your coworkers that we are not allowing any immigration agents to house on our property.
As you’d expect, this is drawing mixed reactions
I don’t think this will surprise anyone, but the internet is divided on this topic. Some number of people are praising Hilton and saying they just won a customer, while others are bashing Hilton and claiming they’ll never stay at one of their properties again.
Now, I think one important thing to clarify is that many individual Hilton properties (including the Hampton Inn Lakeville, which is specifically referenced) are franchise properties. So these aren’t actually managed by Hilton, and therefore, it’s hard to claim that Hilton overall has any sort of a coordinated campaign.
Of course these properties carry the Hilton name, but in terms of trying to determine intent on a corporate level, I don’t think that can be done.
One other thing worth mentioning is that we’ve seen some protests outside of hotels that ICE agents are staying at, including in the Minneapolis area. The intent is to make as much noise as possible, to prevent ICE agents from sleeping. Obviously that poses major issues for hotels if they’re also housing other guests, since that could greatly impact their stay.
Based on the communication from these properties, it sure seems like the reason for canceling stays is more about taking a stand than anything else.
Bottom line
DHS is accusing Hilton of denying lodging to ICE agents. More specifically, it seems that what’s going on is that some Minneapolis-area properties (including a Hampton Inn) are canceling all reservations of ICE agents, as they’re taking a stand against the organization. Of course this has the internet divided, with some praising Hilton, and others bashing the hotel giant…
