The Cumberland woman was denied a hotel room because of where she lives
Struggling with insomnia, Darcy Jamieson decided to spend a night in a Courtenay hotel.
The Cumberland resident hoped a night of room service and a quiet suite would help her sleep.
“Of course, I was fantasizing for a couple of hours, I was seeing myself falling on my bed,” Jamieson said.
But after paying and booking online at Courtenay’s Best Western The Westerly on Oct. 13, the room she was expecting showed up at check-in.
“And he said: ‘We don’t take locals.’ And I was like I thought it was a little joke, I just thought it was funny,” Jamieson said.
But the receptionist insisted he was serious. Not because there weren’t any rooms, but because Jamieson was a local and that was against their hotel policy.
“It made me hesitate, like if I was in real trouble, that would be my last chance to make a bed that night, I could afford it, I could afford it. And I was going to be rejected,” Jamieson said.
The Westerly Hotel’s general manager, Jamie Lewis, told CHEK News that the policy is in place for a good reason and that many hotels practice it because locals use their rooms for parties, or because they’re fighting with a spouse, they need a one-on-one. room, and may bring the argument to the hotel. Scenarios that can put hotel staff in difficult situations.
“It’s not that we want to say no to the locals. I mean any business is appreciated but at the end of the day the cost is worth it. All of a sudden you have a room of 20 people and they’re all hiding in the back door and I’ve seen it all on video. I’ve seen it happen,” said Jamie Lewis, General Manager of The Westerly Hotel.
CHEK News called the eight hotels listed in Courtenay and asked if they rent to locals. In response, three said “no”, one said “occasionally” and four said yes.
“I think it’s a load of bullshit. I think anyone should be able to rent a room,” Courtenay resident Wendy Souin said.
“It’s a fun way to do business. Especially in these times, like ‘helping local’, but still, local businesses don’t help local people,” Jamieson said.
Jamieson is still looking for that good night’s sleep in a hotel room, and now he knows he’ll have to travel further from home to get it.
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