Man 'flabbergasted' to hear Nor-Villa Hotel doesn't rent to Winnipeggers
Lance Bartlett says he was looking for a good night's sleep when he looked up a Winnipeg hotel online.
Bartlett is recovering from an accident and has trouble sleeping. He decided to check himself into a nearby hotel for a night so he could get some rest and give his wife a break.
He decided to go the Nor Villa on Henderson Highway. Bartlett handed the female employee at the front desk his identification and a credit card.
"The moment she saw my address, she says she couldn't help me because they have a policy of not renting to Winnipeg residents. I said, 'Pardon me?'"
Bartlett asked the employee to contact her manager because he couldn't believe it. The clerk got off the phone and said the manager confirmed what she told Bartlett.
"I was floored. Absolutely floored. So I said, 'Let me be clear: you have rooms for rent? She said 'Yes.' But you won't rent me a room because I am a resident of Winnipeg. She said 'Yes.'"
'I am flabbergasted'
Bartlett says he can't understand why the Nor Villa wouldn't rent a room to a local resident. He says he has never experienced this in his life.
"They are discriminating. I am flabbergasted and everybody I have spoken to since in regards to it is speechless. They have never heard of such a thing before in their lives," said Bartlett.
"What if I had a fire in my house, or I had flooding? Why wouldn't they give a local person a room? I just couldn't believe it."
Bartlett says the desk clerk told him if he was in a wedding party at the hotel, he could get a room as a Winnipegger.
"I looked up the Nor Villa on the internet. There is nothing about 'We don't rent to Winnipeg residents,'" he says. "There is no sign in their lobby stating these facts."
Bartlett says he has operated a business in Winnipeg for 26 years and has never heard of such a policy.
He ended up going to a hotel in Transcona and had no trouble booking a room.
Jim Baker, the head of the Manitoba Hotel Association, says such a policy is not uncommon in the industry.
Baker says he's not surprised, but wouldn't elaborate on why such a policy exists. He couldn't say how many hotels in Winnipeg have a similar policy.
CBC News contacted the Nor Villa. A desk clerk confirmed it is hotel policy that they do not rent to locals.
CBC News is waiting to hear back from the manager of the Nor Villa.
