The Workplace Relations Commission found that Atlantic Troy Limited T/A Charleville Park Hotel discriminated against Philip O’Neill by refusing emergency accommodation for his family. It directed the hotel to pay him €8,000 and revise its credit-card booking requirement in a decision dated 16 February 2022.
O’Neill’s family had arranged a three-night stay, with payment support from the Department of Social Protection. At check-in, the hotel required a credit card in the name of a person staying there and refused the family’s debit card. The hotel said it applied its booking policy equally and that the family needed a home rather than hotel accommodation.
The WRC found the hotel knew the family received housing assistance and used its credit-card requirement to deny them accommodation. It also found that the hotel’s account of earlier stays by Traveller families raised a presumption of discrimination that it had not rebutted. The officer concluded that Traveller identity had partly led to the refusal. The €8,000 compensation related to the effects of the conduct, including the distress of being denied emergency accommodation while homeless.