Wednesday June 19, while the Israeli family tries to reserve a room at the Novotel hotel in Portes de Versailles, Paris, the employee tries to make them pay extra then prevents them from getting a room in full view of the Israeli passports.
The Israeli family, the two parents and their 3-year-old child, dreamed of a quiet, family vacation in the French capital. This is what was promised by the website of the 4-star Novotel Portes de Versailles hotel, but everything did not go as planned.
Upon arrival at the hotel, the couple booked three nights with two employees for a total amount of 935 euros. Later in the evening, the situation changes abruptly when the two female employees are replaced by a male colleague. When Mahmud, the father of the family, goes to reception, the employee announces an unexplained increase in the rate, which rises to 1,219 euros for the three nights. Mahmud is convinced that this price change is due to his Israeli passport: “When he saw that I had an Israeli passport, he told me that the room was going to cost 1,219 euros in the end, he increased the price voluntarily.”he states in his complaint, that The Parisian was able to consult.
Surprised by this increase, Mahmud decides to book his room online for 935 euros, the price initially announced by the two employees. When he then tries to get his room, the man at the reception tells him that the reservation did not work and that the hotel is full. However, while Mahmud was making his reservation online, several guests were greeted by the employee and able to access their rooms without issue.
“He treated us with contempt and racism”
Faced with this situation, the family calls the police, who try to resolve the conflict by speaking with the employee. He refuses to cooperate, without providing additional explanations.
The employee’s words, recorded in the complaint filed by Mahmud, reveal the contempt and racism he demonstrated: “He treated us with contempt and racism. He told us: Israel, you think you are the kings of the world, you will not have a room in this hotel.” This act of racism comes in a context of growing tensions linked to Israel’s policy in Palestine. The family was forced to stay in another hotel, after being “put out at 1:30 in the morning”.
A situation to be clarified
The Accor group, owner of Novotel, launched an internal investigation and summoned the employee to get its version of the facts. The owner of the establishment, however, gave a different version of the facts, affirming that there were indeed no more rooms available and that the hotel had called the police, after the tone rose between the different parties. Light has therefore not yet been shed on the matter.
