“Good morning” began a written message to an Israeli couple who planned their visit to Italy via the online reservation company, booking.com this November. Despite the cordial greeting, the message they received from the hotel manager quickly became quite the opposite.
“We inform you that the Israeli people as those responsible for genocide are not welcome customers in our structure.”
The Tel Aviv couple had hoped to stay at Hotel Garni Ongaro in the Dolomites region of northern Italy but received the message just one day before departing.
The message continued, “Therefore, if you would like to cancel your reservation, you would be happy to do so and we will be happy to grant free cancellation.”
A screenshot of the shocking message was posted on social media and soon went viral, eventually making it to mainstream media, such as the Daily Mail and ABC News. The Mail reported that the Israeli embassy in Rome has promised to bring the matter to Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni’s government.
(Photo: Screenshot/Social media)
Regional president of the Italian Hotel Association, Walter De Cassan, made assurances , “I have received confirmation of the veracity of this incident form Isreal [sic] and as an organisation we condemn this action and disassociate ourselves from the hotel,” adding, “We have the duty to guarantee hospitality to everyone as far as possible.”
The Israeli Foreign Ministry confirmed they are investigating the incident, and booking.com has said the hotel listing was removed from their site.
In a statement on Friday to Newsweek, booking.com said, “We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind and in the rare event that we are alerted to discriminatory behavior from a property, we investigate immediately and will remove the listing from our platform, just as we have done in this instance.”
Notably, Palestinian activist Ihab Hassan condemned the hotel in a post on 𝕏.
“I can only imagine the pain and sense of injustice I would feel if a hotel denied me a place to stay simply because of my identity, being Palestinian,” Hassan wrote. “This is collective punishment. I have many Israeli-Jewish friends – people who travel around the world dedicating their lives to advocating for peace and coexistence, tirelessly working to end the war.”
He added: “Refusing to host individuals based on nationality or identity is not only wrong it’s a violent discriminatory act that is both illegal and morally bankrupt.”
The hotel’s actions were widely condemned by Veneto Governor Luca Zaia, who said the matter was “extremely serious.”
He added, “I feel deeply disturbed and I’m shocked by what has happened,” insisting, “Veneto must guarantee its doors are open to all.”