In a TikTok posted on Sunday, deaf people are shown unable to check into their hotel in Omaha, Nebraska, and they say it’s because they are deaf.
“What’s going on?” a deaf women wrote on her phone to communicate with a man working the front desk of a Sleep Inn and Suites. “Why [can’t] you give us key, we already reserved? Can I talk with a manager?”
The video has almost 500,000 views since being uploaded to TikTok.
In the overlay text of the video, @beccabee123…4 (who posted the TikTok) wrote that the people shown in the video also presented their IDs so that they could check in for their reservation. According to @beccabee123…4, the deaf people were “sent away” and Sleep Inn and Suites called the police. They had traveled for a wedding, according to the viral TikTok.
The TikTok’s top comment—from @byrdman2018—notes that the actions of Sleep Inn and Suites employees are a “clear violation” of the American’s Disabilities Act. @byrdman2018 is correct: According to the Americans with Disabilities Act National Network, “places of public accommodation,” which includes inns and hotels, “may not discriminate against people with disabilities and may not deny full and equal enjoyment of the goods and services they offer.”
Another commenter, @kattcrane, identified themselves as an attorney and seconded @byrdman2018’s statement. “Go to [ADA.gov] and file a complaint with the DOJ,” they wrote.
Other commenters, however, felt they needed more information to pass judgment on the video.
“The way [she’s] aggressively hitting that computer leads me to believe he denied them service for another reason,” commented @creeperpeeper0.
“There’s really not enough context here to know what is really going on tbh,” wrote @_thatssokatie.
The Daily Dot has reached out to @beccabee123…4 and Choice Hotels, which manages Sleep Inn and Suites. The Sleep Inn from the viral video declined to comment.
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