Hilton on Tuesday said it removed the Hampton Inn Lakeville in Minnesota from its system, after a video appeared to confirm that the hotel was still refusing to accommodate agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The hotel's management company, Everpeak Hospitality, had apologized on Monday for previously informing ICE that the hotel would not be accommodating ICE agents. It issued the apology after Hilton said that the franchised hotel's actions were "not reflective of Hilton's values."
The incident drew a lot of attention when ICE on Jan. 3 publicly questioned Hilton about hotel reservations that the Hampton Inn Lakeville allegedly canceled. On its X account, ICE posted redacted emails from Jan. 2 that appeared to be from the Hampton Inn Lakeville. One email said the hotel had "noticed an influx of GOV reservations made today that have been for DHS, and we are not allowing any ICE or immigration agents to stay at our property."
In a statement, Everpeak said it was contacting impacted guests to accommodate them. However, a video shot at the hotel's front desk appeared to show that the hotel was continuing to deny lodging to immigration officers, despite Hilton saying that the hotel had apologized and that its hotels are "open to everyone and we do not tolerate any form of discrimination."
Hilton on Tuesday said the most recent viral video "clearly raises concerns" that the hotel isn't "meeting our standards and values."
Hilton said it is engaging with all franchisees "to reinforce the standards we hold them to across our system to help ensure this does not happen again."