Hampton Inn Calls Cops On Black Family Using Pool

The peoe saying she left her kids unattended at the pool because she was 30 feet away in her car on her cell is absolutely ridiculous. millions of parents would have done the same thing. Being 30' away from your kids is not leaving them unattended. Is so you people saying that, What if a person has their own pool in the bedroom while their kids are out in the backyard swimming is that leaving your kids unattended I mean come on this did I mean come on this is ridiculous. If all you have to do to look at your kids is to turn your head is that your kids is to turn your head to the side that is not leaving them unattended that is not leaving them unattended leaving them unattended would mean letting unattended would mean letting them go in the pool and going back into the room or go is back into the room or going somewhere where she could not see them. This was full blown racial profiling. I guarantee you if she was white as soon as the hotel person came on soon as the hotel person came up and she popped out of the car and said oh those kids are Karen said oh those kids are mine I got my key we're good said the lady would have just went right back into the is right back into the hotel. Or the people saying that she left her kids unattended I guarantee you I guarantee you if you are parents there have been times where you are there have been times where you have left your kids unattended is unintended for a few minutes. Is every single parent does it. It's not like those kids are 4 years old. Is look to be 7 8 9ish years old. Hell I'll leave mine 7 year old at home alone for E for 20 minutes while I run to the store. This was absolutely rationally motivated.

My response to @Bruce says:
dated July 6, 2020 at 4:59 am .

Precision in facts. Thank you for posting it. Correct that the ADULT was in her car on her cell yapping away, while the children were left unattended. Pool rules are: Under 17 must be under the guidance of an adult. This guest was belligerent and lacked civility in accepting accountability for HER poor judgement in leaving the kids unattended. She pulled the race card, NOT the employee. No where in the video does the employee use slurs or racial remarks. And anyone can find a key card or keep one from a former stay some where. I would have handed my id to the officer and they could have quietly conferred with the staff to see if she was a registered guest. Transparency is the best weapon when needing to validate. If anything the Filming Guest was the one that used a "Those white people" in her comment. Whos the one that is creating the divide. ? HER. The audacity of Hilton to side with this Guest is appalling. So HILTON supports irrational guests who violate the safety of children? Give an apology to that Employee! She was following safety with unsupervised kids.

Attached (link) includes some important facts about this incident from the police department that were left out of Ben's blog. See the Williamston Police Department official report at: http://www.townofwilliamston.com/

An important fact is that the woman left her two young kids unattended in the hotel pool (in violation of pool rules). The hotel staff first found the kids in the pool and then found the mother in a car in the parking lot. When the woman was approached by the hotel staff in the car, she refused to identify herself, or her room number, and did not show a room key card to the staff at that time. The staff then called the police, in accordance with the current hotel policy, concerning a possible trespassing violation. The police arrive and find the woman in the car and then they all move to the pool area. Once at the pool, the woman starts recording with her phone and refuses to give her name to the police but then eventually shows a hotel key card. The police run her car license plate to identify her and the staff is able to confirm that she is a current guest of the hotel.

The woman and her family were not singled out at the pool because of the color of their skin. The white couple at the pool did not leave any kids unattended in the pool to go sit in their car in the parking lot. She was singled out because she left her kids unattended in the pool and was found in the parking lot and refused to identify herself for the staff to confirm she was a guest at the hotel.

The police in 25 states, including NC, are authorized to lawfully order people whom they reasonably suspect of a crime (i.e. trespassing violation) to state their name. However, I suspect the police thought it was less confrontational to just run her car plate. See the law at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_and_identify_statutes#States_with_.E2.80.9Cstop-and-identify.E2.80.9D_statutes

Many media outlets also, conveniently, left out some important facts from their reporting on this incident.

@Mr. Clark so evidence doesn't matter? If one wants to be sure that we are actually dealing with a real incident of prejudice (again, that is more likely what this is rather than racism, if this is even racially motivated which is certainly not proven) that means they are "racist" of some flavor? Do we understand you correctly?

That attitude is precisely why people want to see evidence because some will label anything as "racism." That usage is why that word is largely meaningless today. That attitude is why we will have few prospects to address real problems in society that assuredly are there.

The title of this blog post was misleading after all of the information was shared. I strongly suggest the title is changed.

There was no "black family at the pool." There were two unsupervised children at the pool and their mother out in the parking lot 3 parking space lengths away sitting in a car. This is a serious safety issue for the kids in the pool. Without adult supervision one of these kids could have drowned in the pool before the mother could have gotten out of her car though the parking lot and through the pool gate to resolve the situation.

Also there was no "white" family who left their kids unattended in the pool area then went and sat in the parking lot multiple car lengths away from the pool inside a car. The only person who left two kids unattended in the pool area was this woman who was involved in the confrontation. The clerk commenting about "those people do this all time time" is unclear if she means people who sit in their car in the parking lot while kids are in the pool, or if the comment is racial. But that doesn't even matter because this was a real safety issue.

This woman was in the wrong leaving her two kids unattended in the pool and going and sitting in her car so far away from the pool- again serious safety issue. But she turned it into her being a victim when really she did something that was careless and dangerous leaving her kids unsupervised. The behavior of the hotel employee helped the woman turn it around into a victim situation.

The woman's kids should have been kicked out of the pool area immediately due to not being supervised for safety reasons and no further comment by the hotel clerk; at that point if the woman escalated it by yelling or raising her voice, the clerk should have called the police and reported the whole incident and attempted to get the woman trespassed out of the hotel for not following pool rules then becoming verbally abusive (yelling) at the hotel employee.

Black privilege means any accusations made by blacks will be automatically believed. This is wrong too. Hotels regularly have people using facilities who are not guests. In big resorts hotels will often have armbands, but it is often not the case in smaller hotels. I’m not going to make a judgement until all the facts of the are are known and I hear both sides of a story.

It should be noted that blacks commit a disproportionately high amount of violent crime and people shouldn’t be blamed for taking statistics into account when judging safety situations. I’m not going to go walking in an area with pit bulls running around or go swimming in a beach known to have a lot of shark sightings.

What does her previous record has to do with what happened? Did the clerk have a way of knowing that when approaching the GUEST? Plenty of felons of all race have jobs. Apparently, the clerk was wrong because mom was there. She shouldn’t have walked away but that’s what should have been addressed.
Seriously, was the clerk dressed like a hotel clerk. I would have questioned her as to her tight to be there.
Many employers allow you to travel with family.
Lastly, where can you use the hotel key card after checkout. It won’t card you into the pool nor a room. You guys make it up as you go.
If it was about the kids safety, once she identified mom, that would have been enough.

@Pinky.. None of what you said makes sense. There was no one within earshot. The hotel lobby was clearly a few feet away so she COULD have checked. And, if she was a guest why did she say that SHE was there on business?
@TheRealBabushka - Yes. The hotel clerk clearly states they have problems with people like her who are UNAUTHORIZED (not black) swimming in the pool.
And, lastly, @ anyone who keeps saying "She didn't ask the white couple." She very clearly states early on in video that she checked in that white couple. So, yes, she DID recognize them.
You all want to make it about race. There is racism. This isn't it. Like someone said in a comment, this may be bias but not racism. And I will go so far as to say she was just following the rules. Let's try this scenario:
She does not check on the woman in the pool to make sure she has a room. Her manager comes in and asks if she did. She says "No. Because she is black and I didn't want to offend her." Does she keep her job for not being biased? Or does she lose it for not following company policy?

Based on your post this treatment was unfair. But I must point out there is no evidence of RACISM. Racism is the belief in the inherent superiority of one race (or necessarily inferiority of another). There’s no evidence of that here. This is either prejudice, bigotry or bias most likely. Please don’t contribute to the erroneous use of a serious work. Some may think this is a nit-pick, but the first step to addressing a problem is to identify it. Calling even incident of bias or prejudice “racism” strongly suggests that one is often unable to identify the root cause which makes effectively addressing it all the note difficulty.

I have been wondering how they knew what car belonged to this woman. I found additional detail.

Another article I read says the hotel employee went to the pool because the two children were in the pool unattended with no adult present in the pool area. When the hotel employee questioned the children they pointed out that their mother was sitting in her car in the parking lot talking on the phone and smoking. And that is how the hotel knew what car belonged to them.

I think most policies state a minimum age for which kids can be at a pool unattended. Whether or not the mother sitting in her car in the parking lot smoking and talking on the phone counts as "attended" would be up for debate. But that is how this whole thing started- she left the pool area and left her kids in it... convenient detail left out of the story by the initial thread.

Still does not excuse how this escalated.

@ The Other Charlie, for real?!?! @Bruce is 100% correct!

Racism is real, it is terrible, and it is all around us. I hate it. Let's be clear about that. This being said, has everyone actually watched the video in its entirety or reviewed the police reports associated with this incident?

The black woman that created the video (aka Ednitta Wright) is the only individual that seems to be labeling this incident as an act of racism or discrimination. The employee (Morgan Kunkel of Williamston, NC) comes across as a textbook Karen, although claims to have been investigating two black children swimming alone at the Hampton Inn pool. Expressing concern over unattended minors in a pool is a legitimate safety and security responsibility of any employee. Asking an individual to provide proof that they are registered guests of a hotel is nothing out of the ordinary. It happens to me more often than not. There is no evidence to suggest a racial motivation in this case. Rather, Ms. Wright's repeated refusal to provide information to either the employees of the hotel or to the police is the primary reason for the escalation. Ms. Wright actually had two registered rooms at the hotel via her employer, so why not simply state this fact -- even in private? Simply showing a room key proves nothing, as it could have been stolen, could be a friend's, or could be from another property.

There was also no evidence of other caucasions at the pool, despite the commentary by Ms. Wright. Ultimately, I believe Ms. Wright has inadvertently done more to harm racial tensions than to strengthen them. An internal investigation has been launched in Williamston, NC. FOIA requests have now fully revealed the names and addresses of all those involved. Anyone can now quickly confirm that Ms. Wright has been arrested on multiple occasions in North Carolina (most recently in April 2020 on charges of larceny) and that it is now publicly known by her employer that she was traveling the week of June 21, 2020, but also doing so with her children, a fact that Ms. Wright may not have wanted to advertise. This is all very degrading to her credibility and not helpful to establishing a legitimate case for racial discrimination.

I am a retired health inspector. For many years i inspected hospitals, hotels, swimming pools, wells, restaurants, etc. If pools are maintained between 2-4 ppm chlorine, Covid-19 stands no chance, which makes properly maintained pools a safe alternative to summer fun. I am a person of color. I travel frequently. I live in North Carolina as well. I have been asked for a supervisor's verification that I was the intended inspector for certain jobs while wearing a badge and driving a county vehicle. It may shock some of you, but being black is a full-time job that takes daily preparation. Think about that! It may not always happen, but when it does, we recognize it, we feel it. Those kids will always remember "that time". I have many similar stories. I still don't know how I would handle this situation. I'm a gentle, soft spoken giant...so I already stand out. I wish ppl would stop telling others when they should and shouldn't be offended...or maybe it wasn't racist. If you don't want to be considered racist, stop doing and saying things that racists do and say. Stop defending in indefensible. Stop sympathizing with the insensitive. Stop your "whataboutisms" and most importantly, Listen! Happy travels!

@kevin “colored” is a racists word by the way! No one uses it but those who aren’t minorities... I wouldn’t give out my room number fife some crazy person to come find me... Also in a pool with white purple and they weren’t asked... me as someone who worked at hotels front desk I knew all my guests and made it a point to find out who everyone was may it be bringing extra towels or finding out if they needed anything or were they comfortable with their stay so that things like this doesn’t happen. I also didn’t care who was in the pool as long as they weren’t being disruptive. I’ve seen teens climb the fence to get in the pool they were quiet so I left them alone. If a white guy wants to point out a situation happening to someone black let them at least they are listening and paying attention.

How do you know they didn't ask the white people? Maybe they already asked the white people and already established their right as guests at the hotel. The video starts and stops at the black women's discretion. We have no idea what happened previously.
The white people also didn't have children at the pool. Since the women wouldn't establish her identity, the hotel employee couldn't establish if this woman was theses kids guardian. That's why the cops were called was basically because of the kids.
Instead this woman chose to raise it to this level, so she could prove that white people are racist. She was more interested in this event being racist than she was about the safety of her kids.
The only way the cops could establish the black women's identity was the black women was sitting in her car when the police pulled up. So they had to run the plates on the car.

What's sad is people automatically believe the black women and thus automatically believe the white women and the cops are racist.
Folks walk around with blinders on have the attitude, " Well I read it on the internet, so it must be true." Common folks you have to be smarter than that.

"@ Duck Ling — I’m curious, do you think the manager would have taken the situation seriously if it hadn’t escalated like this? Do you think corporate would have taken this seriously if there weren’t a viral video involving the policy?

Because I would certainly assume the answer would be “no” and “no.” I wish it hadn’t gotten to the point where the cops had to be called, but I think the long-term benefit of this guest recording the whole situation is that this became a much more teachable moment, and the same mistake is much less likely to be made."

The problem is Ben is this. You are making assumptions based on a video made by the complainant. The video started and finished at the wish of the complainant. There are parts of the video where the masked employee is trying to explain a situation (that we can not hear) and the complainant is replying 'that's not true, that's not true'. What the allegation is, we don't know. Whether it was true or not, we don't know.

There is also the assumption that the white people in the pool weren't 'singled out' in the same manner? How do we know this? How do we know that the white people were not previously asked for exactly the same details (what is your room number) and provided these?

Pre COVID I was staying in a hotel and using the gym and a staff member came in and posed similar questions to two white guys working out in there. Not i'd assume based on their race but due to the fact they had brought in large gym bags which is unusual for a hotel gym.

As a mixed afro carrib - european I find these kind of videos and posts doing our BLM a DIS-SERVICE because, frankly, they are petty and they undermine the REAL issues we face.

The response to these events is always far more disturbing than the actual events. Everyone knows the world is full of vile racists, but a lot of the people commenting here about how it's fine to racially stereotype and how those minorities just need to "tow the line, do as they're told and stop complaining" look like otherwise innocuous members of the community.

You'll never know the sheer number of vile people you're surrounded by every single day, as most are wise enough to hide it. That's truly depressing, and I'd argue is the principle reason these events never end. Though now ordinary people are becoming more empowered to openly challenge racist behaviour, hopefully that will now start to change.

@Kendor I disagree... When TSA wants to secondary screen me, I am glad. When a clerk asks me for ID to prove it's my CC I thank them. When I am patted down or my bag is checked going into an event, I oblige. If a hotel clerk asks me what room I'm in I wouldn't hesitate to tell her and I certainly would not disrespect the police that were only called there because this woman thought somehow she didn't have to answer a simple question. Racism... HA!! The only racist person in that video is the woman screaming it.

Agree with Colin, Vernon.

I don't have a problem with such topics, but there are a lot of assumptions in this article. That's why it's disappointing.. it's like an opinion piece based on a few facts in the Tele. Not a lot of worth to it.

As for the whole point, do you really think if the staff member thought the people were staying there, she would have called the police? That would be stupid if she just wanted to hassle hem but thought they were staying there.

Evidently the fact they didn't provide room details made them seem cagey and then the next step is to get someone with authority to deal with it. That family escalated the matter, so are at fault here. And yes, I have experienced similar. Sometimes you have to prove your case, even when you're in the right.

People make assumptions in life - and that's required when not enough information is avaiable, as was caused by the family here. It's bizarre to think that shady people should get away with things because legitimate users aren't willing to provide details to support that. And no we don't just live in a wholesome world where everybody does the right thing, as attested by the other hotelier earlier in the comments.

Thanks for posting this article, Ben. As a frequent traveler who values points and miles, I like to know the background on places I might patronize, and the unpleasant situations that I might encounter while traveling. This article told me a lot.

I'm very sorry that @Roman, @Matt, and @Charlie are disrupting your blog with such insensitive comments. I consider such comments to be a form of racism. I'm especially annoyed about @Charlie's comment because I, too, have often posted here as @Charlie. I'm now fearful that folk will get the two of us confused, and I will be thought of us as racist.

I'm an American of African descent. When I lived in a well to do apartment complex a few years ago, I distinctly remember watching with my own two eyes, a European American woman hop over the fence with her two children to access the pool. She kept looking around to make certain that no one spotted her and I noticed that as she approached the pool area, she was able to seamlessly blend right in with the other European American moms who were by the poolside with their children. It never dawned on me to contact the concierge. Quite frankly, I didn't care, but I definitely took note that had she been a woman of African descent, EVERYONE would have noticed and someone would have surely taken the liberty to called the concierge (who in turn would have contacted the police). The only reason why I was free to lounge by the poolside was because everyone knew I was a resident.
As an aside, when I stayed at a 5-star resort in Aruba, a Latino security guard asked if I was a guest and I replied yes. I recall walking to the suite door, that could only be accessed with a card key, while he watched my every move. I put the card to the door and when it opened, I smiled and looked towards him, while stating "it worked!" He looked away with anger.
I've personally observed that many people have very negative stereotypes of people of African descent. I travel a lot as a single woman and tend to experience varying levels of racial animus, that often stem from others being angry and upset that I, as a dark skin woman have the resources to dine at exclusive restaurants, stay at 5-star resorts and basically enjoy my life. The expectation is that I should be working a menial job and not have the ability to travel first-class or enjoy living well. It does something to their ego when they have to face the music that a black woman has far more than they do... oh well, that's their problem, not mine.

This is excellent work by the hotel staffer. In the current environment, and with the potential risks of COVID-19, suspicions of unauthorized use of hotel facilities must be confronted. The level of belligerence demonstrated by the trespassing suspect is highly indicative of guilt. Notice that she stopped taking video before actually entering a room.

This employee followed protocol and I would happily hire her for any of my hotel properties. I hope the hotel ownership will restore her position immediately and additionally pursue charges related to theft of services against the trespassing suspect.

This kind of foolishness happens all the time sadly.
And thank you Ben for sharing this type of behavior with your audience as most are not aware of it.

I'm singled out many times when I travel because I'm Black and yes it has everything to do with travel.

I'm looked at many times when I stand in the ELite line, both by the people on the regular and the person behind the counter.
I'm asked if I'm sure I'm standing in the right lane all the times.
I'm asked for my boarding pass at times and I'm also ignored for service for which I'm due.
I've even just wrote about all that happens to me when I travel.

Kerwin.

My wife had a business acquaintance who frequently hung out at hotels as a non guest for the purpose of consuming breakfast. He also on occasion would pay for a room to establish a presence with the property staff and so he could aquire room keys for future visits. He also accumulated a large quantity of towels. At one point I allowed him to stay with us to help him reestablish himself. After a period of time I noticed he was accumulating some of our posessions so he was no longer welcome to stay. It was then I discovered the large stash of towels left in the room. I was able to identify the hotel chain they were taken from and I returned them. My trunk was full. For me when asked a question I will respond courteously and provide what ever evidence is required to eliminate any doubt. Makes life more peaceful. If one has nothing to hide don't make it appear that you do. Actually showing a room key does not satisfy me as evidence of a legitimate stay. I have travelled several years for business and have accumulated the plastic key cards from several occasions.

@charlie... "Someone in authority"????????? By that do you mean any minimum wage person with a name badge?

Having paid my money, I'm the person in authority, be I black, white, green or polka-dot. I can't for the life of me believe some of the things I'm reading, not only in the article, but in some of the comments.

I'm hardly surprised the police-calling employee is no longer an employee. What management/owner would allow the police to be called in a non-threatening situation without consulting the top-dog?

And as for the Police? Hopefully, here in the UK, unarmed police would be less threatening to the victim. Also, hopefully, they'd have told the caller to "get a life" after a quick word with the victim or even considered charging him with abuse of police-time. [Wish I could be sure of all that].

It's quite right that every blog, news-site and news-consolidation feed, worldwide, starts reporting these apparent superficialities. They will continue to seem that way until we see that they're not isolated incidents confined to small geographic areas, but a Worldwide "pandemic" that threatens our World's mental wellbeing and community security as much as COVID threatens our physical health.

@Charlie I think the thing for your to ask yourself is just how old it would get if you were being stopped and asked for identification and other small harassments seemingly every day of your life. At some point you may get tired of explaining yourself and defending yourself to people who actually don't have the right to compel information out of you.

As a white guy I've been stopped randomly at airports by cops and asked to prove the bags were mine, with no more explanation than "we've had a lot of thefts lately." As a white guy I've had my share of extremely and unnecessarily rude cops. But in my older age I've realized those interactions are the exception, not the rule. Try to imagine how you'd feel if these sort of interactions were a daily or a weekly occurrence. I've never been prone toward performative woke activism, but I've come around on this issue. We have a serious problem with policing in this country and its unfortunate excesses tend to disproportionately affect some racial and economic groups.

Imperial Hotel, Wien On Friday night I returned to the Hotel sort of late in the summer but before Midnight. I walked in and headed up the Grand Staircase, when I hear someone sort of yelling at me from behind. Since it wasnt in English I simply continued on my way.

He catches up to me (mind you Im not running but walking at a normal pace). He catches up and starts talking in English, demanding to know where do I think I am going, I said its none of your business. He asks me again and I answered the same as I continued walking up the stairs. He then says hes Security. I said why didnt you say so to begin with and wheres your ID to prove it. He started saying things back in his language, got on a walkie talkie or whatever and a person who was behind the FD when I walked in came over.

Then and only then knowing he was legit I answered Im going up to my room and my key card is locked in the safe in my room. Its then that the guy from behind The FD recognized me (I wasnt walking around like I was dressed then since I arrived 2 days before).

I dress very casual and always wearing a baseball cap. But Friday night is The Shabbat and as a religious Jew Im in a suit and no baseball cap but a yamulka. I cant use the elevator on a Friday night so I walk up the stairs to my room. Had I not been wearing a yamulka Im positive that security guy never would have bothered with me. I asked him does the Hotel get many people dressing up like a religious Jew coming into the hotel and braking into the rooms especially on Friday nights? back to his language as he starts to walk away, I call him back wanting an answer. I knew the answer

I ran into the same in Zurich at a few 3* hotels, I wanted to see what the rooms were like and asked if I could see 1 (not on The Shabbat), and was told sure till the woman owner said cant be done we are soldout. I asked when would it be possible she answered never we are soldout for decades to come.

And no the year wasnt 1939, it is what it is and will never change

Now saying White Power in America is wrong, then why is it OK to yell Black Power and raise a fist in the air. Either both are OK or both arent. And if you call me White you're a Racist Im a European-American!

Had the guy at The Imperial said excuse Im security blah blah blah I would have spoken to him w/o batting an eye

For those persons present in the comments asking what this has to do with travel - this is an incident regarding a hotel. This blog writes about how to get places (airlines predominantly, but also cars for hire, trains, etc.) and where to stay (hotels, airbnb, etc.). This blog seeks to inform you of events and happenings within that portfolio of 'travel'. Why?

So you can make up your mind about how you travel, with which companies.

It is not outlandish to suggest that people will be disinclined to stay with a property after learning of an incident like this. That lands the post squarely in the defined area that the blog focuses on.

Ben has never claimed to limit his blog to trip reports or formal reviews of service, and I'm certain he'd appreciate each of you backing off and allowing him to define his own space, thank you very much.

If the content isn't to your liking (and yes, I grow weary of some of the things he posts as well) keep your mouth shut and find a different story to read or blog to enjoy. Travel news as a whole is rather limited at the moment (in the traditional context) but Ben has certainly risen to the challenge to report on world events from the perspective of travel, and I would encourage him full throatedly to continue.

Posts about poor guest experience, regardless of being personal to him, are relevant. Posts about COVID-19 and masks in airports, hotels, and airplanes are relevant. Posts about racism, homophobia, or other unacceptable hospitality experiences are relevant. Posts about closed borders, and precautions taken by countries (or not) are relevant.

I have yet to see Ben take a non-travel tack on any major story, and he should be commended for speaking to topics and views he considers important, while adhering to his chosen boundaries of product in doing so.

To be so individualistic in nature as Americans, I'm surprised we don't mind our business more. The employee asked if the individual was a guest; she showed a hotel key. Frankly, if she could procure one to give her kids a swim - even is she wasn't a guest - good for her. If the property was trying to social distance or control capacity, ask everyone (quietly) to verify their room number. And don't get me started on calling the police on things that don't cause even the remotest of harm to life, liberty or property.

As mid-30s black man who isn't always dressed like a Lands' End model, I remember two back-to-back stays last fall where I got questioned, queried for a key card and then my room number. Once at the Rosewood Montecito and then again at Shutters. My response is always, "I'm on camera, and you can watch me enter my suite. If you still need to chat, you can send the manager on duty and security up." It crazy that I already know how to respond for my piece of mind and security.

The employee who asked should get punished. No excuse on asking a black family and not a white family. (who isn't nowhere to be seen from YouTube)
I understand the property reserves their right to who can use their pool so they should have asked everyone there.
The bigger problem here is actually the cops!!!!! Please watch YouTube.
I don't think the cops have any grounds to harass for getting the name or ID of the woman.
As far as I can see, she didn't clearly commit any crime so I don't think cops should keep asking for ID at all after the first request is denied by the woman.
Please watch the YouTube and focus on the law enforcement not Hampton Inn.
Imagine the trauma on the 2 kids. They will grow up to oppress the system and hate cops.
This will go on for decades.

However, unrelated to this incident.
As of June 2020
Race card just got another upgraded benefit. You can now unlock any hotel pools.
After you are done with the pool, Pass Go and Collect $200.
Return the card so others can (ab)use this card again.

While I appreciate the struggle that POC go through, in the video, we only see what happened after the Police arrived. What transpired between the hotel employee before the police were called? We are in the middle of a pandemic. I have traveled several times since the country has been on lockdown. Every hotel I have stayed in the pools have been closed. Why has no one mentioned this? Maybe the white couple that wasn’t approached, (in the videographers time frame anyway) was approached before the woman and her children were at the pool? What if they were not approached because they didn’t have on swim attire?
While I sympathize with POC for racism in America, is everything racist these days?
We need context for everything? I truly hope the woman and her children are not permanently traumatized by the treatment from the hotel employee. Maybe all hotels, restaurants and all travel and hospitality businesses will implement extra sensitivity training in the near future
Hope

@Luis - Admittedly, my experience is limited to US hotels. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be a standard internationally. But in the US, I could probably count on one hand how many times I've been told the room number out loud - I always notice since I was specifically trained not to, but it's usually in a context where it wouldn't really matter anyway (e.g. late at night, no one around). And despite my hotel status, I'm (relatively) young and give off a pretty laid-back vibe, which kinda puts them at ease and lets them know I'm not gonna make a big deal if they don't follow all the formalities...but I still feel better if they follow that one, lol.

(And I'm a white male, so the potential safety/security issues of saying it out loud don't affect me as much as they would someone else, which makes me more okay with it - but not if they did it to, say, a single woman checking in.)

@Chris W - I guess I never noticed. Obviously the room number is written on the little envelope, but I feel like they always audibly told me my room number as well. I will pay attention next time I check in to a hotel, whenever that might be. FWIW, I've traveled all over the world staying in some of the nicest hotels and recall always being told my room number. If this is a known hotel management policy to not say the room number, then I'm happy to admit that I'm probably wrong.

I wonder how many times we all make judgements without knowing the whole story. Did the hotel employee possibly witness the family’s car pull up and wonder if they were not guests? If that is the case would she have asked them for a room number regardless of the color of their skin? I don’t think we can know the answer to those questions. Perhaps the reason why the other family wasn’t asked for room number was because the employee was the one who checked them in and recognized that they were hotel guests. I think it is wrong to assume racist motives on the part of the employee without getting their side of the story....the only side of the story we have is from the aggrieved family. We all need to give each other more grace. False accusations hurt all involved- white people hurt when they are falsely accused just as black people do. Misunderstandings happen and most times there is no intended malice.

As a Hilton rewards member, I've been asked on a few occasions if I'm a guest. I politely tell them yes and continue on my way. I would never give my room # or show my key as I'm single woman that travels alone you have to be careful of your surroundings. I would have given my name and have the employee verify at the front desk. Giving a room # in front of other guests, is a safety issue especially for a single woman is traveling with children. These incidents occur frequently and aren't publicized because it is the norm for people of color.

As a frequent traveler and former hotel employee, there's another relevant thing I haven't seen mentioned yet: it's considered a privacy/security risk to state your room number out loud in case others hear it. Even moreso if it's stated alongside your last name, as anyone with knowledge of your last name and room number could charge whatever they wanted to your room and get away with it (at a Hampton Inn this would be limited to items in the marketplace in the lobby, but still). This is why when you check in, the front desk agent is *never* supposed to say out loud (for example) "you'll be in room 301," but rather, hand you the key packet with the room number written on it and say something like "here's your room number, you'll be on the third floor, elevator's to your right" (they can say the floor, but not the specific room number). In all my travels, there's only been a small handful of times where the agent has broken that rule, usually at lower-end properties and/or when I arrive very late and no one else is around.

Point is, outright asking someone to state their room number out loud (especially alongside their name) in a common area of the hotel, e.g. the pool, where other guests (or non-guests) could be present, is a safety/security risk and is never okay - even if you suspect that they're not there legitimately for whatever reason. If anything, you ask them to show a card key. If they present one, you drop the issue. Yes, they could have technically gotten it from another guest or picked one up off the ground that someone else dropped, etc., but at that point, unless they're specifically causing problems, you assume they're telling the truth and let it go. (If they're specifically causing problems / breaking pool rules, you can kick them out regardless of whether or not they're hotel guests. That doesn't seem to be the case here; they were simply assumed to be non-guests based on their race, when the white people at the pool were not.) The woman was right to refuse to state her name and room number, especially if she felt unsafe due to being racially profiled and singled out like that.

I love how some folks , I’ll assume white people , like myself , are bothered by this sort of story being reported on this site , the fact that we are tired of reading about this injustice, further highlights how far we as a race of people have to go, if your tired of hearing about how white people treat Black people , imagine what it must be like to be black, be questioned about why your in the pool, show your hotel card, and further be questioned ...... and if you watch the video , the white women tells the police officer that she remembers seeing the women’s son the previous day.... so the white women was just generally enraged that a Black women and her children were using the pool that they paid for....further, once the police realized that this was a bs call, the police officer runs the license plate / looking for a reason to arrest I assume - my fellow white people , this doesn’t happen to us, you wouldn’t accept it for yourselves, so don’t act like your bothered and find this treatment acceptable for other people / we chant all lives matter , then let’s start acting like it

What is with people always asking Ben "what does this post have to with travel/points?" It is HIS blog. Even if something is only tangentially or not at all related to travel, he can write about it. Would you ask him why he wrote the post about his mother's illness even though it is not points related?!? Seriously, no one is forcing you read every post!

P.S. This is definitely travel related as it illuminates the kinds of issues faced when traveling which could be helpful to others in their own travels.

Ben thank you for posting. The content is very relevant for a travel site. As someone who is fortunate to not experience discrimination well traveling, it is important to be reminded that it is common for portions of our global population to experience discrimination when traveling. That is why there are specific travel advocacy organizations for groups which experience discrimination, to name a few types of groups there are some that promote disability, sexual orientation, skin color, and religious affiliation travel in attempt to make it more assessable to their members.