Georgie Docker,North Westand
Phil McCann,North West
A homeless man has said it is “disgusting” a Manchester hotel refused him entry, on a night when the city faced sub-zero temperatures, due to being homeless.
Callum McDonagh, 30, was one of two men to be turned away from the Holiday Inn Express on Oxford Road, Manchester, despite having pre-booked rooms – after being told the hotel’s policy did not “allow” homeless people to stay.
“From the look of myself you’d never think that I was homeless,” he said. “So to make that judgement and reject us straight away – I think it’s disgusting really,” he added.
A Holiday Inn Express spokesperson has since apologised and said the incident was “not in keeping with our policy of welcoming all”.
The rooms were booked by Amanda Thompson, who volunteers for charity Two Brews, who told Radio Manchester, as well as paying for the two rooms she also paid a damage insurance deposit of £100 per room.
Callum, who has been sleeping rough for eight years, said: “It made me feel inadequate.”
“I didn’t feel good enough for that hotel. As a homeless person, I was made to feel embarrassed,” he added.
‘Quite scary’
When Callum arrived at the hotel on Monday evening, the temperature in Manchester had reached -6C.
“It can be quite scary sleeping on the streets in this weather,” he said.
“I’m someone that’s been adapted to the streets for a while – but I’ve cried sometimes, I’ve been that cold.”
Callum also said the incident made him feel “a bit down” and “categorised”.
After being turned away from the Holiday Inn Express, Amanda made another booking at a Travelodge in Moss Side, who welcomed the group.
Callum said he was relieved to know he had somewhere to sleep that evening.
“As we got there, I won’t lie, I let out a sigh of relief to myself because I had a roof over my head – somewhere warm,” Callum said.
‘Too little too late’
A Holiday Inn Express Manchester spokesperson has since apologised.
The spokesperson said the incident was not in keeping with company policy and “should have been handled differently”.
They added the hotel was “taking steps internally to strengthen our training”.
But for Callum, the promise of internal training is too little too late.
“They should’ve done that in the first place,” he said. “If they had anything about them maybe they’d make contact with me personally to apologise and assure me it will never happen again.”
