ROANOKE, VA – ”We got a reservation here under your name - the only problem that we have, we have a no local policy that includes all the cities within 50 miles of here.” - This is part of a message one of our own 10 News staff members received this weekend after booking a room online with the Holiday Inn Express in Roanoke.
She needed a room due to the winter weather but was later turned away because she lived within 50 miles of the hotel.
And she’s not alone - this happened to people at multiple hotels in the area.
“This is a ridiculous policy,” Jennifer Dalton said.
Jennifer Dalton ran into the same issue with another hotel after her power went out on Monday.
“We tried to rough it out, that didn’t work. We decided to vacate at 4:00 a.m.,” Dalton said.
Dalton and her husband went to the Best Western at Valley View - a hotel she’d stayed at prior to moving to the area.
“When you heard these managers say, ‘Oh, we can’t book a room because you’re local,’ what went through your mind?” 10 News Anchor Abbie Coleman asked.
“Flabbergasted. Because I was like, ‘What? This doesn’t make any sense because we’ve stayed at this establishment before,’” Dalton said.
But even after telling the hotel that, they had to find another option.
“She said she couldn’t help us,” Dalton said.
I wanted to see why these polpoliciesces are in place - and why they didn’t make exceptions in winter weather.
So Coleman called the Holiday Inn Express our staff member tried to book.
They didn’t have a comment when she tried to speak with them on the record - but when she called as a local trying to book a room, they explained the policy.
“I’ve been told by several places that they won’t take locals,” Coleman said.
The hotel told us they’ve had problems in the past with locals partying and trashing hotel rooms so that’s why the policy is in place.
“And there are no exceptions to that?” Coleman asked.
But when she asked about exceptions to that policy - they told her that if there is someone with a power outage listed online - they would allow them to book.
And even though Dalton found a place to stay - she’s frustrated.
“You don’t want to feel like you have to give a background check just to rent a room,” she said.