Diane and Bob Buhler looked forward to a stay-cation getaway over the weekend. Lets get a hotel right here for two nights," he said. However, the two were turned away at check-in. She said, 'we don't rent rooms to Lee County residents, you have to leave. The hotel's website states this policy on their homepage. It would only be illegal, if the establishment was turning away people based on age, race, color, religion, nationality, or disability.
Lawyers add some hotels do this to avoid crime, prostitution, drug activity, and hotel parties. To the extent a hotel has guest related policies, they must not violate any local, state or federal laws. Tuesday, the Best Western Fort Myers Waterfront added they put the policy into place to make the hotel attractive to families:.
When our family purchased the hotel in it was a mess, lots of local traffic and very little of that was desirable. We had to put some policies in place to make this a safe and attractive place for families and business clientele. I can tell you many stories like the senior citizen that rented a room, we decided to make an exception for, only to kick out her grandson and 10 of his friends having a birthday party later that night.
The News Press did a story July 27, about this policy and many hotels also have and enforce this policy as well. I personally think this is an example of a few bad experiences have ruined it for all the people that would be just fine.
We feel blessed to have a place that is attractive enough to want to come and stay, and we are here to bring in new customers every day.
