Charity accuses hotel of discrimination after cancelling homeless bookings

The 'Raise the Roof' charity has expressed anger after the Royal Hotel Hull cancelled 14 rooms for the homeless over Christmas.

Raise the Roof charity raised money and organises rooms for the homeless to stay in over Christmas. Source: Raise the Roof

A UK charity, which raises money and organises a hotel stay for homeless people over Christmas, has accused a hotel of "discrimination" after a booking was cancelled.

Raise the Roof charity, a non-profit organisation founded by Carl Simpson, raised £1092 ($1900 AUD) and booked 14 twin rooms for two nights at the Royal Hotel in Hull on 13 December.

However, according to Mr Simpson, the hotel cancelled the booking throwing their plans into disarray.

"Absolutely gutted and very angry," a Facebook post from Raise the Roof read on Saturday.

"Before we booked this hotel we informed them that we were a homeless project and what it was for and they were fine about it so we paid £1092."

In a post on Tuesday morning, the project said the Royal Hotel in Hull had allegedly cancelled the booking because someone informed them there had been damage to the rooms at the Ibis Hotel last year.

A Royal Hotel spokesperson corroborated the story to the BBC that the allegations had been made.

"We received a call from a lady... who worked for the charity last year," the BBC read.

"She had rung to warn us that the group had caused serious problems at the Ibis and that she felt we should not take the booking."

A statement from Ibis, posted by Raise the Roof, denied these allegations.

"They have offered to reinstate our booking with conditions which we will be declining," Raise the Roof wrote on Facebook.

"Need a miracle"

The project said it would "need a miracle" so close to Christmas to help out and arrange a hotel for the homeless.

The Doubletree Hilton has come to the rescue and offered to put up all 28 people for two nights with breakfast and dinner. Several businesses, including Nationwide and Village Hotel, also offered their services.

"Who says miracles don't happen," Raise the Roof wrote after the Hilton offered to put up the guests.

Since the original Facebook post, the project had also received numerous donations on its crowdfunding website to help re-book a hotel. The project has now raised close to £9,000.

SBS News contacted the Royal Hotel in Hull for comment.