Hotel staff calls police on Black guests using the pool, gets fired following outrage online

In a 10-minute-long clip that is viral now, the hotel employee, who has not been identified, can be heard asking Williams-Wright for "proof" that she had a room at the Hampton Inn.

By: Trends Desk

New Delhi | July 2, 2020 08:15 PM IST

3 min read

The woman alleged that despite telling the staff she was a guest at the hotel, she called cops on her. (Source: Missy Williams-wright/ Facebook)

A hotel staff called the police on a guest, a Black woman, who was using the property’s swimming pool over the weekend. Outraged, the woman went live on Facebook and Instagram showing the policemen who were checking her vehicle’s licence plate. As the video began to circulate widely and sparked a furore online, the hotel fired the employee in question.

The employee of Hampton Inn at a hotel in North Carolina called the police on the guest whose children were using the pool to report her for trespassing. Missy Williams-Wright, her 11-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, were staying at the property under Hilton when the employee and two officers approached her on suspicion that they weren’t guests.

In the 10-minute-long clip, the hotel employee, who has not been identified, can be heard asking Williams-Wright for “proof” that she had a room at the Hampton Inn. “OK this is my proof,” she said showing her room key. “Why do I have to tell you what room I’m in? What did I do wrong?” “So, because I am the only Black person here in this pool, they (want to) question me,” Williams-Wright can be heard in the video. “But there were two Caucasian people sitting right over there and she said nothing to them.”

Watch the video here:

According to the report by Williamston Police, the staff told two responding officers that during hourly inspections she had spotted two unattended children swimming in the pool, and that Williams-Wright was seen in her car in the hotel parking lot. When officers arrived at the scene, they asked whether she was a hotel guest and could provide her name and room number. The police report said that she refused, and instead showed them a key card, citing the fact that she already proved she was a guest by showing her room key and “did not commit a crime”.

“Officers were able to use the vehicle’s registration information to confirm the adult’s identity and verify that they were registered as a guest at the Hampton Inn,” the police report stated. “No enforcement action was taken and officers cleared the call.”

Williamston police told USA TODAY that they are opening up an “internal investigation” over the viral video following an “outcry of public concern over this call for service and how it was handled”.

“Hilton has zero tolerance for racism or discrimination of any kind,” a company spokesperson told CNN. “Through our extensive Diversity & Inclusion training program, we have made diversity and unconscious bias training mandatory for Team Members at all properties and corporate offices globally.”

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The company said it apologised to the guest and vowed “to ensure that in the future, their employees reflect the best values of our brand and are welcoming of all.”

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