‘Not all Romanians are prostitutes’

THIS young woman booked a hotel room online, only to be turned away when she tried to check in. The reason stunned her.

***ONE TIME WEB USE ONLY*** **CONTACT NETWORK PIC DESK FOR PRINT RIGHTS*** Must credit Caters News/Picture Media PIC FROM CATERS NEWS - (PICTURED: Alecsandra Puflea outside the Holiday Inn hotel where she was refused accommodation because she is Romanian.) - A graduate has been refused a room in a city centre hotel because she was suspected of being a Romanian prostitute. Alecsandra Puflea had tried to check into a room at the Holiday Inn Express in Ferensway with her boyfriend on July 6, but says she was turned away when the receptionist found out she was from Romania. It is understood the hotel introduced a policy of screening guests they believed to be engaging in illegal activity after other Romanian women were found to be using the rooms for prostitution. SEE CATERS COPY.

A ROMANIAN woman claims she was denied a hotel room because staff thought she was a prostitute.

Alecsandra Puflea, 22, had booked the room at the Holiday Inn Express in Hull, UK, online. But when she arrived with her boyfriend to check in on July 6, she claims staff told her; “I’m sorry, we don’t accept Romanians”.

It’s alleged that the hotel had adopted a policy of screening and turning away guests they believed could be engaging in illegal activity after discovering Romanian women were using its rooms for prostitution.

“It was an awful experience and quite shocking,” Ms Puflea told the Telegraph.

“He took one look at my ID and said that I could not stay in the hotel. I tried to show him my British driver’s license but he said I could not stay in the hotel because I was from Romania.”

Even though Ms Puflea was slightly more understanding after discovering the reasoning behind the initial refusal, she still believes this policy should not be allowed to stand.

The Holiday Inn Express in Hull, where it all happened. Picture: A TripAdvisor traveller

“I was very upset when I found out the reason they had told me to leave. Not all Romanians are prostitutes.

“Even though it made more sense when I found out about the problems they have had in the past, it is still discriminatory and it is still wrong. You can’t tar everyone with the same brush because of their nationality.”

Ms Puflea later filed a complaint with the Humberside Police. They investigated and released a statement saying the hotel had since apologised to Ms Puflea and was reviewing its policy.

However, the Holiday Inn Express publicly denied the allegations, with manager Debra Hutchins telling the Telegraph: “This is definitely not a case of racial discrimination and the hotel declines to comment any further”.

A spokesperson for Holiday Inn Express told news.com.au: “We apologise unreservedly to Ms Puflea for the misunderstanding and any distress caused. Holiday Inn Express doesn’t tolerate racial discrimination and the booking was absolutely not refused on racial grounds. We have since reached out to Ms Puflea to apologise and make amends.”

This story originally appeared on FlyerTalk.com.