Posted on 01/06/2026 1:57:03 PM PST by V_TWIN
Hilton said Tuesday it is dissolving its relationship with a Minnesota hotel that sparked backlash from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for denying federal immigration agents from booking accommodations.
“The independent hotel owner had assured us that they had fixed this problem and published a message confirming this. A recent video clearly raises concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values,” the company wrote in a statement on the social platform X.
“As such, we are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. Hilton is — and has always been — a welcoming place for all,” it added.
The statement follows a video posted by conservative commentator Nick Sortor, who visited the Hampton Inn Lakeville Minneapolis and attempted to book accommodations early Tuesday morning while posing as a representative from the DHS.
”Even the FRONT DESK manager said he had spoken with the owner shortly before I walked in around 10:50pm, and confirmed the ANTI-DHS POLICY REMAINED IN EFFECT,” he wrote on X.
(Excerpt) Read more at thehill.com ...
FAFO on full display.
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Hilton needs to end their entire franchise relationship with the owners of that franchise (for all properties)—and have a lifetime ban on each individual owner.
The hotel is owned by Indians.
Hilton should also sue the franchise owners for reputational harm—a trillion dollars is a nice round number.
Every hotel in the Minneapolis metro area is staffed with Somali labor for cleaning, kitchen, and grounds maintenance.
Seems like almost all hotels are owned by Indians. Weird.
Hilton was serious about investigating this incident and clearing their corporate name. Good. Sometimes a big business will do what is right.
Regardless of this, it is deceptive to have an Indian-owned company as a franchisee for a big name hotel chain. After 2 previous experiences with them, I will never stay in an Indian-owned hotel and one named “Hampton Inn” is false advertising.
And that is how you deal with this kind of thing.
Congratulations to Mr. Nassetta who moved swiftly and decidedly.
I am not saying that his motives were not financial, they probably were, but this is a model for companies who have PR problems, do a quick check to see that it is true and act.
Currently businesses seem to be stuck in "putz around and hope it goes away".
News flash: About 50% of the time, it won't. And your delaying tactic just made things a whole lot worse.
There must be some type of clause(s) in the franchise contract outlining the consequences for damaging the brand I would think. And they would be substantial.
Just consider how much land we’ve allowed chinese to buy.
What does this mean? Reservations now must be made directly from the Hotel as opposed to Hilton’s integrated main system? BFD. What would hurt is if that Hotel was forced to change the name from Hampton. My suggestion, the Somali Inn.
Hilton should be honest and say “We are really, really, sincerely sorry-—that we got caught.”
Damage control experts are getting overtime pay.
Companies for reputation repair charge for individuals and for companies:
“Costs for individual reputation repair range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on damage severity. Business reputation repair typically costs from a few thousand to tens of thousands of dollars for comprehensive strategies.”
Other type is the online service sector like NetReputation and Reputation X.
FA....24 hours later...FO.
Of course a year ago such a response would have been unthinkable and the hotel manager would have been promoted.
I heard about it once but ceased to care.
Maybe now it is time to care again and force hostile foreigners to divest of all of their American real estate.
Okay, let’s start the renaming possibilities.
Philton, Spillton, Patelton, or
ICE-Please-Stay-Here-We-Were-Idiots-Ton
I have a very good friend that is a general manager of a Hilton resort in Virginia Beach.
He’s the one that alerted me to this action after he said he just received an email about it from Hilton corporate.
From what he has shared with me about the Hilton brand I didn’t think they would tolerate this.
Did they have someone go out to remove the “Hampton Inn” sign and retrieve everything else there with the logo on it?
Because it does not happen nearly often enough.
Yeah, I am a bit cynical.
But I am also very happy to be proven wrong.
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