Shortly after Alexandru Hegyi booked a room in a Tilburg bed and breakfast, he received a message from the owner. “We have an agreement with the municipality of Tilburg, our accommodation no longer receives Romanian people,” she wrote.
Following research by Omroep Brabant, this sort of shameless discrimination seems to be standard procedure for the owner of this B&B. As a result, the accommodation has now been removed from Booking.com.
Nationality-based discrimination
After Dr Hegyi shared his frustration on social media, the owner of the bed and breakfast confirms to Omroep Brabant: she indeed refuses all Romanians who want to stay with her.
The reason? She is still paying off a €25,000 fine because some Romanians once had illegal sex workers operating out of her accommodation.
According to the owner of the B&B, her flat-out discriminating measures result from an agreement with the municipality of Tilburg. In a letter, they apparently asked her not to host Romanians anymore.
The municipality of Tilburg, however, denies these claims with great certainty. And, of course, when asked by Omroep Brabant for a copy of the letter, the B&B owner has become unreachable. 🤔
Preventing the normalisation of discrimination
Back in Romania, Alexandru Hegyi is still shocked at what happened. This kind of “discrimination in the heart of the European Union” is outrageous, he writes on his social media channels.
Booking.com may have taken down the listing, but that’s not enough. Hegyi wishes to see the matter discussed at a higher level. Therefore, he will not only file a formal complaint with the municipality of Tilburg, but he’s also in contact with several Romanian politicians.
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In the Netherlands, politicians are also concerned. GroenLink councillor Nermin Agovic is worried about the normalisation of discrimination. He is taking questions about this case to Tilburg’s municipal council, and has reached out to Alexandru personally.
It remains to be seen whether further measures will be taken, as Tilburg’s anti-discrimination agency (RADAR) is currently investigating the case.
What do you think about this shocking incident at a Tilburg B&B? Tell us in the comments!
As a Romanian, I am deeply hurt. But, somehow, not surprised. Both Holland and Austria had become more and more racist.
Actually it is xenophobia, we are most of the Romanians and the Dutch basically the same race, scientifically called Caucasoid. I don’t mean that racism is good and I wonder how they really treat other races….
And I remember that Netherlands used to finger pointing Romania and Bulgaria as “BAD COUNTRIES”. Never heard about such a case here. But I remember Johannes Visscher case!
Maybe the Mayer of Tilburg can read about it.
What a shame!
Disgusting behavior. Discrimination against eastern Europeans is somehow allowed in the EU.
Not only that, most of the discrimination against Romanian people are out of pure stupidity of people confusing us with “Roma” people which we don’t associate with.
When you end up discriminating as well…
Well, as far as I know, operating a sexual worker network (legal or not) implies a demand of sexual work. Therefore, I guess the city of Tilburg will not allow any men in the city, because they are the reason why (illegal or not) sexual worker networks exist. Especially dutch men, because they must be the usual customers in such a pure and clean national oriented environment like Tilburg pretends to be.
Is sad to see how limited some people are. Each nation or group of people has good and bad people( otherwise Holland wouldn’t have jails, right?) If someone is romanian or dutch doesn’t mean that the romanian is a criminal and the dutch is an angel. The owner of the hotel will apologise and move on. Probably her/ his hate for romanians will grow anyway.
To Lilou: On the one hand I agree with you, it’s another form of discrimination, but on the other hand there were/are so many situations in which the “roma” minority puts a stain on the Romanian nationality. It’s a sad reality. If a fellow citizen behaved totally inappropriately. How would you behave? Would you agree that all villagers being classified the same? Why shouldn’t we speak open about the problem? Of course the theme “Roma” is historically regarded as a stain of Europe (read their unfair history), but this should not force us to accept to be equated with those who (of course not all) strongly overshadow the nationality they carry.
How paradoxical, when someone from an ethnic group complains about discrimination, then they expose themselves as being just like the ones they complain about.