Dear Friends

This is a letter sent to Sol Melia last Monday.

The Spanish director of the hotel in Cuba replied today with a halfhearted apology and without addressing the issues exposed: homophobia and discrimination. He also offered a 50% discount of our next stay in the hotel.

That is not enough, I am not after money or discount. I want the issues taken on board and the ******* at Reception fired and made to apologise to us in writing.

I am sending copies of this letter to mass media and gay media in Spain and London

Any opinions/advice and contacts are welcomed.

Andy

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Attention of Mr Gabriel Escarrer
CEO
Sol Melia H
Gremio Toneleros, 24.
Polígono Industrial Son Castelló.
07009 Palma de Mallorca
España

London 6th February 2006

Dear Sirs

Re-Incident at the Meliá Santiago, Santiago de Cuba

We are writing to express our utter outrage following a recent incident at one of your hotels in Cuba which left us in total disbelief that a highly prejudicial treatment of clients is still widely accepted and practiced in some parts of the world within your so-called reputable chain of hotels.

The incident occurred on 23rd of January when both myself (an English citizen) and my partner (a Cuban national with permanent residence in the UK) presented for check-in at the Meliá Santiago, in Santiago de Cuba, having made the appropriate reservation (Ref. No. 0674310) in advance for 2 people, for 2 nights. Everything seemed to be going smoothly at first and both myself and my partner completed our registration forms and presented upon request our supporting documents (passports) to verify the information. A room was then allocated to us and we were given vouchers for free drinks to wait at the bar while our room was being cleaned as it was not ready yet. The (female) receptionist who was handling the check-in explained to her manager, a Mr Armando Guzmán - Head receptionist - that a mistake had occurred with the initial reservation made which indicated a booking for 1 room with 1 double bed and that instead, she was allocating us with a room with 2 beds. At that point we corrected the receptionist and indicated that no mistake was made and that we had indeed requested a double room with 1 double bed. At that moment, Mr Guzmán appeared to be clearly troubled by this and asked to review the documents submitted for check-in. In particular he asked to re-examine my partner’s documents. Then, with my partner’s passport in his possession he disappeared into the back office for about 10-15 minutes, after which he re-emerged with the news that the hotel is not prepared to offer us accommodation, supposedly on the grounds that my partner is a Cuban Citizen and that it is the Sol Meliá policy not to accept any Cubans in any of their hotels in Cuba.

Totally revolted by this news, we tried in vain to explain to Mr. Guzmán that these restrictions against Cubans - while they may be in place in many parts of Cuba - do not apply anywhere to Cubans who reside overseas. Indeed, by that day (the 23rd), we had already spent the largest part of our vacation in many cities around the country, staying at some of the major hotels (such as the Sofitel Sevilla in Havana), as well as various private houses (casas particulares), without the slightest problems or issues of any nature. But Mr Guzmán maintained his position and indicated that the decision was made by the hotel Cuban co-director (Mr Wilfredo Villaverde), denying us the opportunity to speak directly with this person or indeed with his Spanish counterpart Mr Pedro de Ruz, as they were both allegedly “unavailable in meetings for the rest of the afternoon,” on Mr Guzmán’s own words.

At that moment (and as confirmed by one of the hotel staff) it became clear that the decision not to offer us accommodation was more linked to the type of accommodation requested rather than any other reasons. Perhaps, our biggest shock came from the fact that a Sol Meliá hotel would have been the last place where we would expect to be met with such an evident homophobic behaviour.

For years, I have been an extensive traveller myself, both for business and professionally, and during this time I have never been refused accommodation in any hotel, anywhere in the world. Suffice to say that words cannot begin to describe the outrage and anger we both felt facing this unprecedented situation. Consequently, we vowed never to stay or promote staying at any Sol Meliá again, and to ensure that all the proper channels are given a real picture of where does Sol Meliá Santiago stand on certain issues.

Yet despite these vows - and based on the assumption that Sol Meliá, as an international chain does not condone homophobia, as well as being eager to show that what happened in Santiago was indeed driven by narrow-minded homophobia and nothing else - we decided to stay at the Tryp Habana Libre in Havana and booked a room for the night of 26th January (ref. 06/85142), prior to our return to the UK. On that night, we arrived at the hotel, and checked-in as normal without any glitches. We were given a double room with 2 double beds (room # 1529). While we were being checked-in, we did make a point of asking the receptionist whether she was aware of any restrictions (both national or specific to Sol Meliá) that could prevent Cuban nationals with overseas residence from staying at any of their hotels. Her answer was an adamant no. This response was also confirmed the next day when we met the hotel Public Relations agent (named Leticia), and asked her the same question.

All this confirmed to us what we suspected from the beginning: that Meliá Santiago has acted out of prejudice and pure discrimination. Put simply, their behaviour was one of the most insulting and disrespectful one we have ever seen, for which no amount of apology or sorrow can put right. It is hard to believe that in our days, such behaviour still exists, especially in international organisations. This incident has left us feeling as if our rights have been violated by narrow- minded individuals who tried to manipulate (and manufacture) regulations to justify their actions. Moreover, we joined your fidelity program MaS back in December in a bid to make the most of the Meliá facilities in Cuba and around the world. You can only imagine our disgust, frustration and disappointment when the much-touted Sol Meliá advantage failed to materialise.

It is our expectation that Sol Meliá will react swiftly and efficiently to this incident, and that this behaviour will be reprimanded appropriately. It is further our expectation that Sol Meliá will respond to this complain in a befitting manner, proving that this sort of behaviour was only the result on an individual’s (or group of individuals’) behaviour, and does not in any way reflect the company’s attitude as a whole towards its guests or indeed the society. It is our assumption that Sol Meliá does not enforce this type of discrimination against Cuban nationals or same sex couples. We hope these assumptions are correctly founded


Sincerely,