Justin Pyfrom
July 21, 2022
I have never experienced such blatant and unapologetic racism in my entire life. Per the rules, I had my passport (a given), my vaccination document, my most recent negative test results, and my online booking. And, still, I had the cops called on me and was asked inappropriate questions beyond the realm of "Are you here for business or tourism?", which should be the only question a hotel should be answering. Then, I was further insulted by being demanded to put one of my Chinese friends on the phone so they could "vouch for me" as they didn't believe me. On top of that, they had the arrogance to use the pandemic to shield their racist behavior. Having enough of all of this, I used my translator to give the following statement:
"I have shown you my booking, my passport, my vaccination, and my most recent negative testing. And, despite all of that, you are all treating me with zero respect and trust because I'm a foreigner. Do I need to find another hotel and warn all foreigners to never book here? Because I will not be disrespected and then allow you to use pandemic to justify your racism towards foreigners."
Finally, I had to witness the receptionist giving me a "How dare you" scowl before I finally got my hotel key; she refused to apologize. All of this happened within 30 minutes of me entering the hotel and it only got worse from there. Only the cleaning lady was nice to me as another staff member tried to bar me from entering the buffet despite me showing my card. Again, a scowl and begrudging acceptance. I ended up going out for breakfast every morning and staying away from the staff because all of them, except for the cleaning lady, was just so rude to me.
I understand that the pandemic has scared everybody, but that doesn't give one race of people the right to treat another race of people like trash. Foreigners, please avoid this hotel if you can. Hilton or Marriott are going to be my choices from here on out. At least those hotels always have a level of professionalism and ethics that are always on par with the norm.