B&B and hotel fined €2,500 each for turning away travelling woman.

freshpopcorn

Gerladine Ward traveled to Loughrea from Dublin to attend her uncles funeral.
She visited a hotel and a B&B in the town and couldn't get a room. She then managed to get a booking on bookings.com but when she arrived at the hotel she was told the hotel was fully booked.
Her sister was being severed food at the time in the hotel.

She took discrimination cases under the Equal Status Act to the Workplace Relations Commission and was awarded €5000.

I know locally when a travelling funeral is taking place the word is spread around town to lock your doors and be careful who you leave in.(Especially for pubs/hotels/etc).
I'd have done a little bit in the hospitality industry and know people involved in it and the attitude that would have being taken would be you'd be better with the fine than the damage that may have being caused.

What do you guys make of this?

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/courts/5000-award-for-traveller-denied-room-in-two-hotels-38425447.html

Tzardine

Fair play to her. Sounds like she was clearly discriminated against.

Plumbthedepths

Nothing to make of it other than the hotel and the b&b discriminated against the woman and have now paid the price.

freshpopcorn

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

Nothing to make of it other than the hotel and the b&b discriminated against the woman and have now paid the price.

I was always told that it was better than pay the fine than pay for the damage that might have being caused. So,it's a win for the hotel.

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy

Bullet dodged for the hotel and B&B. €2500 is less than the damage they’d likely have caused in anyways.

Plumbthedepths

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I was always told that it was better than pay the fine than pay for the damage that might have being caused. So,it's a win for the hotel.

Handy 2.5k for the woman , I can see several of her community booking this hotel.

Kivaro

These days when I hear about Travellers and culture, I always now presume that it is some type of compensation culture that is being discussed.

James Brown

Kivaro wrote: »

These days when I hear about Travellers and culture, I always now presume that it is some type of compensation culture that is being discussed.

Is Bailey a traveler name?

Overheal

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I was always told that it was better than pay the fine than pay for the damage that might have being caused. So,it's a win for the hotel.

Not really though: once word spreads that those B&B and Hotel are happy to print money for folks rather than treat them hospitably, they’ll be out a lot of coin and probably slapped with heavier fines and penalties for repeat violations/contempt of court.

Ironicname

Matt Barrett wrote: »

Is Bailey a traveler name?

???

freshpopcorn

Overheal wrote: »

Not really though: once word spreads that those B&B and Hotel are happy to print money for folks rather than treat them hospitably, they’ll be out a lot of coin and probably slapped with heavier fines and penalties for repeat violations/contempt of court.

Yes, they'd just have to be more careful in there excuse/reasons and they may be glitches with the booking system.
Most hotels have a plan in place to deal with this.
The reception staff/night porters/etc who'd be checking people in generally have a few lines to say and they generally work.
It happens a lot.

colm_mcm

Ironicname wrote: »

???

Obscure reference to Maria Bailey and her swing episode.

Overheal

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Yes, they'd just have to be more careful in there excuse/reasons and they may be glitches with the booking system.
Most hotels have a plan in place to deal with this.
The reception staff/night porters/etc who'd be checking people in generally have a few lines to say and they generally work.
It happens a lot.

What kind of lines?

freshpopcorn

Overheal wrote: »

What kind of lines?

Generally just rubbishy one's about one's rooms not being ready and maintenance/etc.
You generally have to say you'll go and check is a room ready/etc and ring the owner/manager upstairs and ye can make a decision then.
I know a good few people in smaller hotels and when people land in the middle of the night without a booking they are generally easier to fob off than if they already have one.

Ironicname

colm_mcm wrote: »

Obscure reference to Maria Bailey and her swing episode.

Oh right. Bizarre. Thanks.

Overheal

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Generally just rubbishy one's about one's rooms not being ready and maintenance/etc.
You generally have to say you'll go and check is a room ready/etc and ring the owner/manager upstairs and ye can make a decision then.
I know a good few people in smaller hotels and when people land in the middle of the night without a booking they are generally easier to fob off than if they already have one.

So they’ll just book ahead; not a lot of effort for that much cash.

Suckit

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Her sister was being severed food at the time in the hotel

Sounds painful.

freshpopcorn

Overheal wrote: »

So they’ll just book ahead; not a lot of effort for that much cash.

If there's a funeral taking place or wedding in the area the booking systems may go down.
If a booking is got they hotel would often take the chance off fobbing them off.
It happens a lot. Booking systems sometimes can make errors.
It happens a good bit.

punisher5112

Isn't it a wonderful country where certain ethnic minorities trash a place and have no penalty imposed.....

Free legal aid I'm sure too.....

Overheal

freshpopcorn wrote: »

If there's a funeral taking place or wedding in the area the booking systems may go down.
If a booking is got they hotel would often take the chance off fobbing them off.
It happens a lot. Booking systems sometimes can make errors.
It happens a good bit.

So the hotel is incapable of handling its own booking when I call ahead?

Overheal

punisher5112 wrote: »

Isn't it a wonderful country where certain ethnic minorities trash a place and have no penalty imposed.....

Free legal aid I'm sure too.....

Sounds like some primo bs right there.

freshpopcorn

Overheal wrote: »

So the hotel is incapable of handling its own booking when I call ahead?

Yes, if you do work in accommodation the odd time errors do take place.
Some city centers hotels even over book because they know not everybody is going to show up and they get caught out the odd night.
Then there's there other cases.
Work in a hotel for a while and you'll pick it up.

Overheal

freshpopcorn wrote: »

Yes, if you do work in accommodation the odd time errors do take place.
Some city centers hotels even over book because they know not everybody is going to show up and they get caught out the odd night.
Then there's there other cases.
Work in a hotel for a while and you'll pick it up.

And what is the penalty on the hotel for overbooking?

freshpopcorn

Overheal wrote: »

And what is the penalty on the hotel for overbooking?

You generally have to try and source them accomdation nearby and maybe taxi them to the location.

freshpopcorn

freshpopcorn wrote: »

You generally have to try and source them accomdation nearby and maybe taxi them to the location.

And how do the other hotels/b&b's react when it's travellers that they are taking in from the offending hotel?

Overheal

Ward J. Littell wrote: »

And how do the other hotels/b&b's react when it's travellers that they are taking in from the offending hotel?

Yeah what’s the secret passcode you hand off to the other hotel when you’re on the phone with them and the undesirable is standing right in front of you? Is it like a dry cough or what

Ironicname

Overheal wrote: »

Yeah what’s the secret passcode you hand off to the other hotel when you’re on the phone with them and the undesirable is standing right in front of you? Is it like a dry cough or what

Are you capable of having a conversation without being overtly condescending?

freshpopcorn

Ward J. Littell wrote: »

And how do the other hotels/b&b's react when it's travellers that they are taking in from the offending hotel?

That's something I'm unsure of.

I know sometimes people can fob people off with just the contact details/directions of the hotel and they don't bother making another booking for them.
If you have to tough you'd just make a booking somewhere else.

Overheal

Ironicname wrote: »

Are you capable of having a conversation without being overtly condescending?

Yes. Yes I am.

freshpopcorn

freshpopcorn wrote: »

That's something I'm unsure of.

I know sometimes people can fob people off with just the contact details/directions of the hotel and they don't bother making another booking for them.
If you have to tough you'd just make a booking somewhere else.

Surely that will affect the hotel's relationship with other nearby accommodation and lead it to getting a bad name in the industry? The hotel that fobs off it's problem customers to other hotels.

freshpopcorn

Ward J. Littell wrote: »

Surely that will affect the hotel's relationship with other nearby accommodation and lead it to getting a bad name in the industry? The hotel that fobs off it's problem customers to other hotels.

The other hotel may also be full and they might send people somewhere else.
They'd could do the same to you in the future tough.
In most cases when somebody who is sent to another hotel it's due to a room booking issue.

When I did work in hotels travellers often avoided city centre places tough and just called into small rural hotels that accepted cash simply because they didn't have cards.

Overheal

Good to know discriminators have a working method

Allinall

Overheal wrote: »

Good to know discriminators have a working method

It’s necessary to stay in business.

Overheal

Allinall wrote: »

It’s necessary to stay in business.

I understand why but I certainly don’t agree with it.

kingstevii

Overheal wrote: »

I understand why but I certainly don’t agree with it.

What don't you agree with? That hotels have to take actions to protect their hotels from getting thrashed?

punisher5112

Overheal wrote: »

I understand why but I certainly don’t agree with it.

So please explain how you can afford to have your business you worked hard to build destroyed in seconds by a certain group every time there is a event.

Would you continue to pay the staff while you wait for rebuild?

Could you believe it's happening again?


Such utter rubbish you spouted earlier....

I've seen what they do and towns especially smaller ones shut down.

Overheal

kingstevii wrote: »

What don't you agree with? That hotels have to take actions to protect their hotels from getting thrashed?

The ends don’t justify the means..

This is more common than you think and not just discrimination laws. You will start spotting it more in the news when you’re aware to look for it. Like companies that would rather drag out a patent infringement suit than set up royalties and licensing from the get go; Times when the punishment is the carrot not the stick, because fines and penalties managed to get appealed down to trivial amounts.

pinkyeye

Aint Eazy Being Cheezy wrote: »

Bullet dodged for the hotel and B&B. €2500 is less than the damage they’d likely have caused in anyways.

Who's they? It was one woman booking a hotel room?

punisher5112

pinkyeye wrote: »

Who's they? It was one woman booking a hotel room?

Sister was been severed food...

pinkyeye

punisher5112 wrote: »

Isn't it a wonderful country where certain ethnic minorities trash a place and have no penalty imposed.....

Free legal aid I'm sure too.....

Where does it say in this article that the woman thrashed any place? :rolleyes:

punisher5112

pinkyeye wrote: »

Where does it say in this article that the woman thrashed any place? :rolleyes:

Never said she did as she wasn't given the chance to.....

Come on seriously it's widely known this is what happens and just because she was booking in doesn't mean there wasn't others going to tag along also which is another thing that happens.

pinkyeye

I used to work in The Embankment and we had many a traveller wedding. Yes, admittedly sometimes it would kick off at the end of the night, but that was 10% of the time and if you have enough security you just throw them out and lock the doors.

The other 90% of the time, a great time was had by all and we got at least 200-300 Irish pounds left to share between us at the time which in the 90's was a lot of money. Would be like 500-600 nowadays. You wouldn't get anything like that off settled people.

Hoteliers, pubs, restaurants etc just need to learn how to deal with trouble.

If you have respect for people they usually have respect back. On the occasions that they don't you just have enough security to lock them out.

Allinall

punisher5112 wrote: »

Never said she did as she wasn't given the chance to.....

Come on seriously it's widely known this is what happens and just because she was booking in doesn't mean there wasn't others going to tag along also which is another thing that happens.

There’s either severe naively or trolling going on.

Can’t quite figure out which.

pinkyeye

Allinall wrote: »

There’s either severe naively or trolling going on.

Can’t quite figure out which.

If you're talking about me I'm neither naïve or a troll having previously worked in the industry. See post above.

From previous posts I can tell Fresh is from a small rural town, maybe Dubs are just more able to deal with situations.

Ward J. Littell

Ward J. Littell wrote: »

And how do the other hotels/b&b's react when it's travellers that they are taking in from the offending hotel?

I booked a really nice hotel in Prague online years ago. When I arrived there I was told they had "overbooked" and they'd therefore transfer me to their sister hotel. In short, overbooking was a deliberate policy by the hotel owners to secure business for their less popular hotels. In an age of online booking when they know immediately whether they have room or not, overbooking should never be allowed as it removes choice from consumers (I could have got a nicer hotel than their imposed alternative).

freshpopcorn

pinkyeye wrote: »

If you're talking about me I'm neither naïve or a troll having previously worked in the industry. See post above.

From previous posts I can tell Fresh is from a small rural town, maybe Dubs are just more able to deal with situations.

I'd have experience in both rural Cork hotels and city ones.
With the rural hotels/pub if a traveller wedding/funeral was taking place you'd be told to close.
Cities were different but I was only involved in 4/5 star places and they weren't an issue.

I do know hotel/bar owners in rural areas who could hire security/etc but they don't want the hassle/cost and be known as a traveller venue.

zoe 3619

freshpopcorn wrote: »

I'd have experience in both rural Cork hotels and city ones.
With the rural hotels/pub if a traveller wedding/funeral was taking place you'd be told to close.
Cities were different but I was only involved in 4/5 star places and they weren't an issue.

I do know hotel/bar owners in rural areas who could hire security/etc but they don't want the hassle/cost and be known as a traveller venue.

Perhaps I misunderstand,but I don't think the event was taking place at this location.
It was one woman looking for a room.
If her sister was eating there,they'd obviously deemed her fit to serve.
Seems slightly unfair to suggest she wòuld have trashed the room.

freshpopcorn

zoe 3619 wrote: »

Perhaps I misunderstand,but I don't think the event was taking place at this location.
It was one woman looking for a room.
If her sister was eating there,they'd obviously deemed her fit to serve.
Seems slightly unfair to suggest she wòuld have trashed the room.

Now this is my take on it.
When a traveller funeral/wedding is taking place in a town generally the businesses are notified in some way and are told to take whatever action they want.
It is known that people may stay/use various different venues like with any event.

Hotels do seem more lax when it comes to using the restaurant in a hotel because they see it as in and out the door and they can't really fob people off easily compared to with the accommodation.

I don't think I suggested that she would have trashed the hotel but this is what lots of business owners fear in my experience and they are happy to take the fine instead.

pinkyeye

zoe 3619 wrote: »

Perhaps I misunderstand,but I don't think the event was taking place at this location.
It was one woman looking for a room.
If her sister was eating there,they'd obviously deemed her fit to serve.
Seems slightly unfair to suggest she wòuld have trashed the room.

But the sister had severed food. :D

Plumbthedepths

Deleted User wrote: »

Ward J. Littell wrote: »

And how do the other hotels/b&b's react when it's travellers that they are taking in from the offending hotel?

I booked a really nice hotel in Prague online years ago. When I arrived there I was told they had "overbooked" and they'd therefore transfer me to their sister hotel. In short, overbooking was a deliberate policy by the hotel owners to secure business for their less popular hotels. In an age of online booking when they know immediately whether they have room or not, overbooking should never be allowed as it removes choice from consumers (I could have got a nicer hotel than their imposed alternative).

The Charles hotel near the bridge is notorious for that carry on.

freshpopcorn

Plumbthedepths wrote: »

The Charles hotel near the bridge is notorious for that carry on.

I can't remember the exact figure but the amount of people that books and doesn't show up is quite high especially in cities/more corporate hotels. So, that's the main reason why the overbook.(I don't think much has changed in the last few years).