A Hotel Has Fired Two Employees After They Called The Police On A Black Guest Who Was On The Phone With His Mom

"DoubleTree by Hilton has zero tolerance for racism," the hotel chain said on Twitter.

A DoubleTree hotel has fired two employees after they called the police on a black guest who was talking to his mom on the phone in the lobby and kicked him out of the hotel.

The DoubleTree in Portland, Oregon, said on Twitter Saturday that the hotel had terminated the two employees involved in the Dec. 22 incident.

"Their actions were inconsistent with our standards & values," the hotel's account tweeted. "We reiterate our sincere apology for what he endured & will work with diversity experts to ensure this never happens again."

DoubleTree by Hilton also addressed the incident, saying that the hotel chain "has zero tolerance for racism."

In posts on Instagram and Facebook, Jermaine Massey said a security guard and a manager at the hotel called the police to remove him, saying that he was "a safety threat to other guests" and "a disturbance because [he] took a personal phone call from [his] mom in a more remote area of the lobby."

"Tonight I was racially profiled and discriminated against for taking a phone call in the lobby of my hotel room at the @doubletreepdx @doubletree," Massey wrote.

"They already had in their minds that they didn’t want me there, so I waited for the cops to show up. And when they did, I explained my side of the story and they didn’t want to hear it," Massey continued.

In one of the videos, an officer with the Portland Police Bureau tells Massey he has to leave the property because the security guard said so. Massey said he cooperated, packed his stuff, and went to another hotel.

"It is never ok to discriminate against guests for the color of their skin and to prejudge them based on your own bias against that race," Massey wrote on social media, calling the security guard "a disgrace." "I had my hotel key in my hand the entire conversation, he knew I was a guest. He wanted to prove a point and did it in the worst way."

"This is not how you should be doing business, man. It's not right," Massey said in one of the videos on Instagram.

According to the Oregonian newspaper, a police report described Massey as very angry and loud and said that officers directed him to check out of the hotel because the dispute had escalated. A spokesperson for the Portland Police Bureau would not confirm the details of the report.

"You know racism is still alive and well, man," Massey said in a video. "It's sad that people have to go through these things, and I know I'm not the only one. I'm not the first and I'm not the last, but I will not stand for injustice."

In a statement to BuzzFeed News, the bureau said that after responding to a call from the DoubleTree about an alleged trespasser, hotel employees "requested the officer contact a person in the lobby they had reportedly directed to leave the property. The officer spoke with the man, who gathered his items and left the location."

"Prior to the man departing from the location, the Portland Police Bureau Officer offered the man assistance to a new hotel and at that time the man declined the offer," the statement said. It added that police followed up with Massey on December 24, two days after the incident, "to learn if the Police Bureau may assist the community member."

Skip to footer