ORILLIA, Ont. — An Orillia-area family is upset with what they call an “outrageous” policy that prevented them from staying at Orillia’s Quality Inn and Conference Centre on Woodside Drive.
Severn Township resident Dan Harris planned on taking his family — including three children six and younger — to the hotel for a “mini-vacation” to enjoy the pool on Dec. 14.
“The kids like to swim, so I thought, ‘Why not get them into a hotel that has a pool in town?’” Harris told OrilliaMatters. “I thought, ‘Why not go to a hotel (and) to keep it local. They’re not going to be cooped up in the vehicle for a long time, and that hotel has a pool.’”
When he asked about the possibility of checking in early, mentioning he lives nearby, Harris said he was informed locals are not allowed to stay at the hotel.
“He said, ‘We don’t offer rooms to locals.’ I was taken aback. I didn’t know how to react,” he said. “He said … the locals who have stayed here have a history of destroying the rooms or wrecking things in the rooms before they leave.”
Hotel management explained to OrilliaMatters the policy is discretionary, not an outright ban on local patrons, but Harris views the policy as potentially discriminatory.
“It’s outrageous. It’s absolutely ridiculous, and it could even be … discriminatory, really, if you think of it that way,” he said. “You’re discriminating against locals who live within a certain 30-kilometre radius.”
He said his family was offered a day pass to use the hotel’s facilities in lieu of a stay, but he opted to take them to a different hotel in town.
He also expressed concern such a policy discourages people from shopping locally.
“Not just in this area, anywhere in Ontario, anywhere, probably, in North America, (there’s) a big push for staying local or supporting local,” he said. “How are we supposed to stay local or support local if places that are local won’t allow us?”
The Orillia hotel’s general manager, Melanie Brown, said the policy is a “guideline” for the front desk, not a strictly enforced measure, noting the Innkeepers Act allows hotels to withhold accommodations.
“It’s not really discriminatory, it is discretionary, just the same as you can be refused service in pretty much any other service industry based on your behaviour,” she explained.
“It’s not hard and fast, but, generally speaking, if you have an L3V postal code, the front desk staff has been requested to … inquire a little bit more — gently, and with discretion and care — about what the need for accommodations is.
“It helps us to prevent, potentially, any damage to the property as has happened in the past. When you have locals staying, sometimes they’re here for a good time, not a long time.”
Brown noted the policy has been in place since before her time as general manager, and said when damage does occur to the property, it is usually not from people visiting from out of town.
“There’s a significant homeless and vagrancy problem here in town,” she said.
“People who are up to … no good tend to stay wherever they can. Unfortunately, due to circumstances or choices in people’s lives, that sometimes brings along other issues in terms of damage, or drug use, or disturbance of other guests.”
“Quite honestly, very rarely have we had issues with folks that are coming from out of town because they’re not here to party as much as they’re here to enjoy a family vacation, or they’re here to attend the perch festival or go to the golf courses or the ski resorts.”
However, Brown conceded Harris and his family should have been allowed to stay at the hotel.
“I have sent (Harris) an email … to try and address his concerns and alleviate his … rightful anger and frustration with how he was treated,” she said. “If it were me having that conversation with him, I would have been happy to have him and his family come and stay. I, unfortunately, was not here when that conversation occurred.”
She said she has spoken with her front desk staff to reiterate the purpose of the policy.
“We don’t discriminate against locals; we just need to understand the purpose for someone’s need for accommodations if they have a home around the corner,” she said. “We do apologize for the way that this situation went down and really did not intend him to come away from that moment feeling the way that he did.”
Greg McGrath-Goudie is a reporter for Village Media's OrilliaMatters.
