Durham motel changes policy that turned flood victims away | Opinion

Turns out they will keep a light on for you – even if you’re from Durham. (But apparently only if the Eno River is in your living room.)

We recently reported how the Candlewood Suites motel stiff-armed a couple that fled its home after floodwaters from Chantal sent them scurrying to higher, drier ground.

The front desk clerk at the extended stay motel on Highway 54 informed Gwen and Ira Montague two Fridays ago that there was no room at the inn for their kind – meaning Durham residents.

Oh, you say you have a reservation?

Well, that changes ... nothing, they were told.

“We lost everything,” Ira Montague, 77, told me when recounting what drove his wife and him to seek shelter at the motel, and the unexpected, unnerving greeting they received. The front desk clerk directed their attention to a “new policy” sheet on the counter that stated that as of July 1, Durham County residents were prohibited from bending the sheets at the Suites.

A week’s worth of calls and emails to the motel and its corporate headquarters, IHG Hotels and Resorts, left me feeling like a zit-faced teen looking for a last-minute prom date: nobody responded for days, and when someone did, it was only to promise that someone would call to provide a reason for the mystifying policy.

No one ever did.

Immediately after our story, though, Candlewood Suites changed the policy – sort of. A spokesperson issued a written statement that said, among other things, “We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience this has caused, and we have paused our policy regarding local guests during this time to ensure the utmost care and consideration for residents in need.”

Oh well, I reckon that passes as an acceptable apology when floodwaters are lapping at your knees. Ira Montague filed a formal complaint with IHG, and he received a response from Nick McNair, general manager of the Durham Candlewoods Suites, apologizing for the “difficulties… you encountered during your recent stay at our property.”

(Who’s going to tell him that the Montagues didn’t actually stay at their property? They were turned away, remember?)

The letter continued:

“I want to sincerely apologize for the lack of understanding and compassion shown by our Front Desk team during your visit. It is never our intention to make any guest feel unwelcome or unsupported, especially during such a difficult time. Your experience does not reflect the level of service and care we strive to provide to all our guests.

I assure you that I will be addressing this matter with our Front Desk staff to ensure that situations like this do not occur in the future. Every guest, including yourself, deserves to be treated with empathy, respect, and professionalism.

If there is anything we can do to make amends for the inconvenience and disappointment you experienced, please do not hesitate to reach out to me directly…

Once again, I apologize for the way you were treated and the distress it may have caused.”

Fortunately for Durham residents, Candlewood Suites is the only one of 16 motels we called in Durham to have the “No Durham residents” policy, but other cities around the state – Asheville and Wilmington, for instance – have motels with similar policies. Crime and property damage are usually cited as explanations for the policy, but no motel company spokesperson anywhere would go on the record to explain how or if local residents are more inclined to commit crimes or damage property than out-of-town visitors.

In Wilmington, those bans were imposed by the county, not the motels, after some of them were deemed public nuisances because of the clientele they attracted – what’s known in the business as “riff-raff.”

Ben David, who retired as district attorney for New Hanover County in 2024, told me recently that those bans were implemented, but “with exemptions.”

David said, “I stand by the action we took to clean up those hotels and motels.” He also said “civil nuisance abatement laws should be used in other communities.”

I’m an innocent, so I was gobsmacked to learn that some people are inclined to do things, illegal things, in a motel room that they wouldn’t do at home.

Matthew Klink, a travel consultant who publishes a travel website called Liveandletsfly.com, wrote in a 2019 story that he, too, understood the ban. “Hotels are perfect places to snort coke or cook meth. Why do it in your mother’s basement if you can do it at the local Best Western? I just cannot fault hotels for denying locals.

“As long as people are not excluded on the basis of their race, religion, creed, national origin, or religion (and in many jurisdictions sexual orientation or gender expression),” Klink wrote, “hotels can legally ban local residents.”

Since the Candlewood Suites contretemps, I have dug up stories of hotel employees having to use Hazmat suits to safely rid rooms of the detritus left by damaged souls: methamphetamine, needles, blood and other bodily fluids.

I’m nothing if not honest, so in the interest of full disclosure, I admit that I, like Gordon Lightfoot, have done things in a rented “room that you don’t confess,” things that I would be loathe to do at home.

For instance, months ago while staying in a Washington, D.C. hotel, I – Egads! - ate some sauce laden barbecue ribs Elvis-style: sitting in bed with a bath towel draped around my neck for a napkin, secure in the knowledge that someone not named me would be washing the towels and sheets.

Trifling? You bet, but here’s my promise to the Candlewood Suites extended stay motel: I will never eat barbecue ribs in one of your beds while using a towel for a napkin. Not even if there’s a flood.

Barry Saunders is a contributing columnist for the News & Observer.