A WOMAN whose wedding booking was cancelled by a Galway hotel because she was a Traveller has been awarded €2,000 by the Equality Tribunal to compensate her for the “distress and humiliation experienced”.
Louise Ward told the tribunal that she had gone to Menlo Park Hotel in April 2009 to book her wedding, which was due to take place a year later.
Ms Ward was given a tour of the premises by a trainee assistant manager.
She was accompanied by her groom and future mother-in-law, neither of whom are members of the Travelling community.
They were informed that their desired date of April 7th, 2010, was available and details were exchanged.
However no deposit was taken as the general manager, who had sole responsibility for weddings, was on leave.
It was understood that the general manager would arrange to collect the deposit on her return, said Ms Ward.
However, when Ms Ward’s future mother-in-law rang to arrange the deposit, the attitude towards her had changed, she told the tribunal.
She was eventually told that the hotel did not do midweek weddings despite the fact that when she rang back under a different name, she was told that April 7th was available for a wedding booking.
The Equality Tribunal was also told that the date held a special meaning for Ms Ward as it was her grandmother’s birthday and she was very upset by the hotel’s response.
Representatives from the hotel told the tribunal that the issue was merely a human error and that they were unaware that Ms Ward was a Traveller.
The hotel had a conference booked for the date in question and were unable to hold a large wedding at the same time, its representatives said.
In making her decision, the tribunal equality officer, Marian Duffy, said she was satisfied that the reason Ms Ward’s booking was not proceeded with by the hotel was connected to her membership of the Traveller community and that she was treated less favourably than a non-Traveller would have been treated in similar circumstances.
In a separate case before the tribunal, a landlord who discontinued a married couple’s tenancy after discovering they were Travellers was ordered to pay the couple €1,250 in respect of the distress caused as a result of the discrimination.
The tribunal heard how the landlord had changed his mind about renting his house to the couple after meeting the husband.
He had been described by his wife as having some of the physical characteristics that would have clearly identified him as a Traveller.
After this meeting, the landlord informed the couple that there were sewerage problems with the house and he advised them to look for other accommodation.
Although a contract had not been signed, the couple had moved in a number of items and offered to wait until the sewerage problems were fixed.
The landlord refused the offer.