A four-star hotel has been ordered to pay a total of €11,000 in compensation after refusing to host a Travelers Girl confirmation ceremony at the hotel due to “overbooking”, reports The Mirror.
Before the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC), Judge Thomas O’Driscoll ordered the payment of wages because Oriel House Hotel Ltd, trading as Oriel House Hotel, discriminated against three people on the basis of travellers under the Equal Status Act.
Celebrating her confirmation, the girl’s mother, Margaret O’Sullivan, said her daughter was confirmed on July 6, 2021 and it was decided to celebrate the occasion by booking a room and dining at the Oriel House Hotel.
That day, Margaret O’Sullivan booked four rooms, dinner and breakfast for a group of guests and paid €600 in advance by Visa card, reports The Mirror.
However, when O’Sullivan arrived at the hotel reception after the reception, the receptionist said “Sorry we are overbooked” and then told Mrs. O’Sullivan that the rooms were being cleaned after Ms O’Sullivan said she had reservations.
Shortly thereafter, the hotel manager arrived to confirm that the reservation had been overbooked and that accommodation could not be accommodated, reports The Mirror.
Ms O’Sullivan told the hearing that when she told the children they couldn’t stay at the hotel, “they became terribly upset and started crying”, reports The Mirror.
The hotel denied discrimination and said the reservations officer made a mistake by accepting the late booking. The hotel denied that hotel staff could easily identify O’Sullivan’s party as travellers.
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