Hilton drops Minneapolis hotel over cancelled ICE bookings

(Corrects town name from Lakeview to ⁠Lakeville in paragraph ⁠6)

By Doyinsola ‍Oladipo

NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Hilton Worldwide Holdings has removed from its system a Minneapolis hotel that has refused to accept the bookings of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, the hotel ‍operator said on Tuesday.

A Hampton Inn hotel, a Hilton brand, outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, ​refused to accommodate ICE agents, the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on social media platform X on Monday.

The Trump ​administration has increased the number of officers in the area after allegations of fraud involving Somali immigrants.

"We are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. Hilton is - and has always been - a welcoming place for all," ​the company said on X.

Amid mixed reactions online from consumers, with some calling for a boycott and others vowing to support Hilton, the hotel operator is the latest U.S. company after Cracker Barrel ​to distance itself from moves that were criticized by the Trump administration and its base.

Hilton made its comments after a video was posted ‌on X on Tuesday which suggested ICE agents were still being refused rooms at the Hampton Inn in Lakeville, after Hilton and the independent operator of the ​hotel apologized for an initial incident.

"A recent video clearly raises ⁠concerns that they are not meeting our standards and values," Hilton said. In a previous statement, Hilton said the property was independently owned and operated.

DHS Assistant Secretary ‌Tricia McLaughlin said the department welcomed Tuesday's move by Hilton.

"Discriminatory business practices targeting DHS and deliberately undermining federal law enforcement are unAmerican and have real business consequences,” she said in a statement on X.

Everpeak Hospitality, which runs the Hampton ‌Inn, was not immediately available for comment on the video on Tuesday. It said on Monday it was in touch ‌with the impacted guests to ensure they were accommodated.

"We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted," it said on its website.

McLaughlin said on X that the agency has not heard from Everpeak Hospitality.

DHS had ‍said on Monday that after ICE officers booked rooms using official government emails and rates, a staff member at the Hampton Inn on January 2 canceled ⁠their reservations.

"We are not allowing any ICE or immigrant agents to stay at our property," read an email from the hotel posted on X by DHS.

Shares of the hotel operator rose 2.09% in afternoon trading, after being down 2.46% at close on Monday.

(Reporting by Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by Barbara Lewis, Alexandra Hudson and Daniel Wallis)

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