Hotel's White Employee Called Cops On 3 Black Guests Using Pool; Admin Issued An Apology

North Carolina Hampton Inn officials issued an apology after one of their employees called police authorities on three Black guests as they used the swimming pool over the weekend. Hotel officials explained that their verification process might have unreasonably worsened the situation.

Accused Of Trespassing

The Williamston police in North Carolina, in a statement issued Monday, said that a Hampton Inn employee claimed Missy Williams-Wright, along with her 11-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter, were trespassing. During an interview with CNN, Williams-Wright said she had been staying in the hotel on business from Raleigh. She, then, expressed her belief that she was singled out because she was Black.

CNN requested Hampton Inn for a comment on the matter, and the company told the news outlet that the employee responsible for calling the police on their Black guests no longer works there. They did not clarify, however, whether the employee resigned or was fired.

In a statement issued Wednesday, Vimal Kolappa, owner of Hampton Inn by Hilton Williamston and CEO of Washington Hospitality LLC, revealed that his company’s policy before the incident, Friday (June 26), was to call law enforcement if hotel staff are unable to verify whether people within the hotel’s premises are, in fact, guests.

Truly Sorry

Kolappa expressed his apologies to Williams-Wright and her family in a statement provided to CNN, saying that they now understand their verification policy has unnecessarily escalated the situation. He promised to change this particular policy in light of what happened. He said that they are exhausting all efforts to directly contact the guest so they can listen to her experience and, at the same time, offer their apologies and correct the situation.

He added that, from now on, they would ensure employees receive training on how to identify hotel guests and de-escalate similar situations in the future. Kolappa also said that the hotel would only call the police if guests or employees are in danger or if a crime is being committed.

Hilton’s Statement

For their part, a spokesperson for Hilton told CNN on Tuesday that the hotel chain has zero-tolerance for any form of discrimination or racism. “Through our extensive Diversity & Inclusion training program, we have made diversity and unconscious bias training mandatory for Team Members at all properties and corporate offices globally,” the spokesperson said.