Glasgow hotel refuses to have locals as guests

A Glasgow apartment has been suspended from advertising on booking.com after refusing to let out to locals.

The Clydebank woman - who we are not naming - tried to book an en suite room at City Centre Suites on Renfrew Street for herself and a friend and was told it was for "overseas guests only".

She was sent an email from the property owner which instructed her to cancel her booking within 24 hours or risk losing her money.It read: "If you are a local from Glasgow and the surrounding area you will be rejected.

"Therefore you have 24 hours to cancel. If you do not, you will be charged and you will not be allowed entry. If you have any questions regarding this please make contact within 24 hours of booking."

The woman told Clyde News: "My friend and I thought we’d found a bargain city centre apartment on booking.com to go to after an evening out in Glasgow.

"We booked an en suite room each.

"After we received the booking confirmation we then received the follow up email from the owner.

"I contacted him to enquire about this odd message. I was asked where I live before being told ‘it’s only for overseas guests’.

"When I asked why he said ‘we’ve had a lot of trouble before’.

"When I questioned this he said ‘we go with the statistics’

"I don’t understand why the nationality of a guest would indicate the likelihood of ‘trouble’.

"We’re 2 middle aged women with professional jobs, we have check-able booking history on the site and have never had any issues like this before.

"It doesn’t mention the policy in the T&C’s on Booking.com, you get an automatic email after you book.

"The man on the phone was quite hostile."

We tried to reach the owner for comment but booking.com has confirmed the property is no longer allowed to advertise on the site.

A spokesperson said: "Our mission is to empower people to experience the world, whether that's thousands of miles away or just on the other side of town.

"A property refusing bookings from local residents is not in line with our values at Booking.com and is not something we support.

"We have temporarily suspended this property to investigate the matter further and will work via our local team to help them adjust their policies accordingly."