Tilburg B&B cancels man's booking claiming they don't allow Romanians

A bed & breakfast in Tilburg canceled a man’s booking because he is Romanian, the man in question said on Instagram with screenshots of the messages B&B Bosscheweg sent him. According to the accommodation, the municipality of Tilburg won’t allow them to accommodate “Romeinse” guests.

Alexandru Hegyi booked accommodation at B&B Bosscheweg through Booking.com. The B&B confirmed the booking, only to later cancel it with this message: “Thank you for your reservation. But unfortunately, we have an agreement with the municipality of Tilburg; our accommodation no longer receives Romeinse people.”

Hegyi was naturally outraged. “When I questioned the hotel about it, they told me that Romanian people are involved in illegal activities. Therefore, they tagged me as being a criminal because I wanted to spend the night there while visiting friends within the city,” he said. “What is going to be next? Can I enter restaurants or walk the streets?”

When he asked the B&B for an explanation, they responded that they still owe the municipality of Tilburg a 25,000 euros fine “because the Romeinse caught working girls secretly at our accommodation.” The message went on: “Please don’t be mad at me. I only do what is the agreement with the municipality.”

According to Hegyi, the B&B claimed to have a letter from the municipality saying they should refuse accommodation to Romanian people.

Hegyi reported the matter to Booking.com, which removed B&B Bosscheweg from the site while it investigated. He also submitted questions about what happened to him to the city council.

GroenLinks city councilor Nermin Agovic called the incident “really confronting, but unfortunately the reality.” He reported the case to the official anti-discrimination organization and submitted questions to the Tilburg office of mayor and aldermen, Agovic said.

Hegyi called Booking.com’s response a “small victory,” but still with a bitter taste. “Considering the word ‘Romeinse’ used by the hotel staff to refer to Romanian people actually means Romans, I can only think of the words of a famous Roman: ‘Veni, vidi, vici.’ No ‘vidi’ in my case, as I did not have the chance.”

This is not the first such incident in the Netherlands. In 2021, the municipality of Medemblik made headlines when realtor Match Makelaars said in a rental listing that the city "does not like foreigners" and has an "anti-migrant policy."