Travel companies have stepped in to offer their help to a homeless charity that was let down by a hotel over Christmas.
The Raise the Roof Homeless Project had booked 14 twin rooms for 28 people for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the Royal Hotel in Hull.
But organiser Carl Simpson said he was ‘gutted and very angry’ when the hotel cancelled the £1,092 booking without explanation.
He aired his anger in a post on Facebook and the post went viral, being shared more than 1,500 times.
The post attracted nearly 500 comments, including one from Adam Gill at Vivid Travel offering to cover the cost of the booking and arrange an alternative hotel.
Peter Finlay from Glasgow-based Horizon Direct Holidays also offered to help.
Members of the public were quick to praise the companies for their generosity.
In the end, the charity accepted an offer from the Doubletree by Hilton Hull to welcome the group for free.
It has also been offered financial help from several local businesses and a free Christmas lunch at the Village Hotel in the city.
"Who says miracles don’t happen," said Simpson in a later Facebook post.
The Royal Hotel hadn’t initially given the charity a reason for cancelling the booking and had been aware from the start that it was for a group of homeless people.
When the story was picked up by the BBC and several newspapers, the hotel blamed its decision on a unanimous call from from a ‘lady called Sarah’ who claimed to have previously worked for the charity and who said that when the charity had booked a group at the Ibis hotel last year, the hotel had been ‘trashed, set on fire and staff and property stolen’.
Ibis was quick to make a statement refuting these claims.
Following a backlash, with some people calling for a boycott, The Royal Hotel offered to reinstate the booking, with conditions, but the charity declined.
