Military veterans, service academy graduates and families are “scrambling” to find hotel rooms for the big Army-Navy football game at Gillette Stadium after their hotel reservations were canceled to make way for refugee families.
Joe Battenfeld of The Boston Herald broke the news.
A travel agent who handles hotel rooms for military families told The Herald that “at least 70 of his rooms at three hotels were ‘taken back'” by hotel management.
Massachusetts Democratic governor Maura Healey, following the lead of President Joe Biden, recently contracted with various hotels to host various migrant and refugee families.
“That is correct,” said Mark Mansbach of Hillsdale Travel told The Herald. “I have enough rooms to cover some of the people. Some people are looking around but pricing is very high. For many, the issue is safety … they are questioning the safety of remaining hotels located near those that are now filled with migrants. Lots of questions by my clients and most hotels are scrambling to come up with safety protocols.”
A spokeswoman for a hotel management company confirmed the news.
“We are delighted to confirm that we are indeed taking refugees at our hotels,” said Claire Mulholland, VP of Marketing for Giri Hotel Management. She added that they will “seamlessly relocate guests
who had booked rooms there to other nearby hotels.