Austrian hotel bans Jews

Austrian hotel bans Jews

www.theaustralian.news.com.au

A HOTEL in Austria has outraged local tourism and fellow hotel owners by banning Jewish guests.

The Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel in the village of Serfaus, Tyrol, is said to have turned away a Jewish family because of "bad experiences" in the past, the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung reports.

(visit the link for the full news article)

I'm not a great one for any form of racism, and certainly anti-semitism ranks pretty high in the world. I would love to know whether this was true or not, it seems the story hinges on the following:

The hotel owner allegedly emailed the family and told them although the room was free, she did want to take in Jewish guests.

It's pretty stupid thing to do with todays media nowadays and not something that can be later denied like a conversation.

www.theaustralian.news.com.au
(visit the link for the full news article)

The father of the rejected Jewish family has reportedly shunned the village of Serfaus and taken the family elsewhere to holiday.

"I don't want to spend my vacation in such a racist nest, and I will inform all my friends about what is going on in Tyrol," he told DPA.

Yay blanket statements and racism begetting more racism.

One hotel has "racist" sentiments that may or may not be drawn from actual experiences and all of a sudden the entire town are anti-semites.


A business has a right to refuse service; this is a poor reason though. Treat the business how ever you believe it should be treated but boycotting the town is even more ignorant than what started this.

[edit on 5/10/2009 by eNumbra]

reply to post by eNumbra


That's a price the town has to pay my friend. It's just generally what happens, not all southerners are bible thumping morons, but ask most people in NY and they will answer with what I have just listed.

Buisness is the heart of any city, one business does something completely retarted like refusing a Jewish family service for "past bad" experiences is completely unfounded and ridiculous.

I'd expect the town to take a hit, I'd expect the father to be mad.

~Keeper

reply to post by tothetenthpower


I understand why the father is mad and wouldn't expect him to not be.

I've however always believed in going to the competition if someone doesn't want my business, because it is after all, the customers that make the business what it is. I work retail currently and let me just say, the customer is rarely if ever "right", but still holds the power in the relationship. Boycott that business and that business' owner and put them out of... business.

I'm sure that would just reinforce the "Jews control everything" conspiracies though.


What does he hope to accomplish by boycotting the town? Sure the other business' could run the other guy out of town but the father of the family basically just libeled everyone else who runs a business there.

[edit on 5/10/2009 by eNumbra]

reply to post by eNumbra


Definetly an over-reaction I will agree to that. And really he's probably not going to accomplish much with that.

Then again I'm trying to figure out how they would have known he's Jewish? Just the name?

Strange that a hotel would look into these things.

As far as the other businesses go, they should send a stern warning that kind of behaviour is not to be accepted if they are to keep the image of the town a certain way.

But in my experience most businesses who submit to this kind of behaviour usually got the idea from some other business.

Ignorance breeds ignorance.

~Keeper

Bizzare. And not in a good way.

I wonder what the alleged "bad experiences" in the past were?

And how, in a place as politically correct and seemingly sensitive to its role in WWII as Austria (where it is actuallu illegal to question the Holocaust, for example) could this hotel owner have thought he could get away with this?

Originally posted by silent thunder
Bizzare. And not in a good way.

I wonder what the alleged "bad experiences" in the past were?

I was wondering this too. Was it with this particular individual or with other jewish customers? Did it even have anything to do with jewish customers or just a bad customer and taking it out on jews because he was racist anyhow?

reply to post by Shere Khaan



A Vienna family of seven had asked the Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel in the village of Serfaus for a reservation .

link

link

The family were Austrian , the news page you linked , somehow omitted that fact , where as other sites mention it.

The region around Serfaus has become popular with orthodox Jewish tourists in recent years, and several hotels in Tyrol have started offering kosher food

Vos Iz Neias (Link)

Were the family orthodox Jews ?

The preparation of Kosher food is rather specific if i`m correct, it can not come into contact with non Kosher foods , or `unclean` utensils etc.

Was this a factor ?
--------------------------------------------------------------
All the same i`d be incensed, if it were my family .
If you have a lot of Orthodox Jewish tourists , then you serve Kosher , its a no-brainer.

I`d say the owner of the Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel is fairly unpopular with the proprietors of other hotels& bars in the village .



edit to add:link

[edit on 10-5-2009 by UmbraSumus]

Originally posted by UmbraSumus
Were the family orthodox Jews ?

The preparation of Kosher food is rather specific if i`m correct, it can not come into contact with non Kosher foods , or `unclean` utensils etc.

Was this a factor ?

Very well could be, the whole Kosher thing is a racketeering scam that absorbs hundreds of billions of dollars in the US alone. I have a thread on it here. It's pretty ridiculous what you have to go through to make it acceptable, and can add as much as 40% to your operational costs, or worse you can be coerced into hiring a Kosher inspector which runs an average of 40-60 grand a year.

Businesses should have the right to refuse service to anyone and customers should have the right to know why they are being refused service.

As a former long haired Rock musician in my youth I have been told at the front desk of a few hotels my business was not wanted.

As a would be patron of a couple roadside diners in the deep south I have been told "We don't serve Yankees"

I won't even get in to why a few women over the years have rejected my proposal to go out on dates!

Descimination sucks but we all more or less choose our identities and affiliations that sometimes do make us guilty by association in the eyes of others who those principals or appearances either offend or cause to believe there is a grave risk of loss.

I wasn't asking for charity at any of those establishments I even planned on buying the women dinner and flowers!

My money was happily spent elsewhere and to be honest I can remember few details of the many hotels, motels and Inns I have spent in my day that makes one any more memorable than the rest. The towns yes, the accomodations not really.

I have had some pretty darn good and memorable meals over the years but the tastes of them escape my palate as tonight's dinner cooks in the oven and the smells of it waft through the air.

The women now that's a different story! She loves me, she loves me not...ah but it is a many splendid thing.

Tonight's meal is a Sunday Pork Roast, all Christians, Jews, Muslims, Buddists, Wiccans, Satanists, Athiests and Agnostics are welcome...

Now I wonder if there is anyone on that list who might have reason to reject my gracious hospitality?

Bon apetite!

[edit on 10/5/09 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

[edit on 10/5/09 by ProtoplasmicTraveler]

Oh gee, this is a good sign...I'm not sure I should believe this entirely, but if it is the case I feel bad for Austria. Has so much time really passed that one could forget old wounds entirely?

Originally posted by twitchy
It's pretty ridiculous what you have to go through to make it acceptable, and can add as much as 40% to your operational costs, or worse you can be coerced into hiring a Kosher inspector which runs an average of 40-60 grand a year.

That could very well be an issue .

Kashrut ~ Jewish dietary laws

Although the details of kashrut are extensive, the laws all derive from a few fairly simple, straightforward rules:

1. Certain animals may not be eaten at all. This restriction includes the flesh, organs, eggs and milk of the forbidden animals.

2. Of the animals that may be eaten, the birds and mammals must be killed in accordance with Jewish law.

3. All blood must be drained from the meat or broiled out of it before it is eaten.

4. Certain parts of permitted animals may not be eaten.

5. Fruits and vegetables are permitted, but must be inspected for bugs

6. Meat (the flesh of birds and mammals) cannot be eaten with dairy. Fish, eggs, fruits, vegetables and grains can be eaten with either meat or dairy. (According to some views, fish may not be eaten with meat).

7. Utensils that have come into contact with meat may not be used with dairy, and vice versa. Utensils that have come into contact with non-kosher food may not be used with kosher food. This applies only where the contact occurred while the food was hot.

8. Grape products made by non-Jews may not be eaten.

9. There are a few other rules that are not universal.

link

If such requests were made of a hotel with a mixed clientèle, i could imagine a hotel owner referring to past experiences as "bad experiences "

But we do not know if the family requested Kosher observances/practices from the Hotel . Its plausible considering that it is a popular destination for orthodox Jewish holiday-makers.

[edit on 10-5-2009 by UmbraSumus]

A whole lota speculation going on here... mostly leaning toward the innkeeper being in the bad. I don't fully comprehend this preference. May of you probably haven't had the pleasure of working in customer service, dealing with the public can be a real pain. It's just as likely if not more likely that the head of the family is pulling a race card, fighting dirty with malicious intent to kill the man's business, all because the owner didn't want to deal with this guy's insanely demanding, noisy, arrogant family.

If the owner took a short cut in attributing all of these negative characteristics to their ethnicity, then this was an error in judgment... he should have taken the time to read off the list of reasons for rejecting their stay.

I think the hotel owner should have taken them in but at the same time warned them his hotel cannot make a kosher meal for them.

They can stay but they have to eat out if its so important to them...

But he already went out and told them they couldn't stay, period, hopefully the reason will become clearer soon enough.

Maybe he was sued in the past for not providing a kosher meal or accidentally giving a Jewish family pork products, who knows?

Edit to add I think there are hotels in Indonesia and Thailand who won't service Israelis specifically.

Personally I think Israeli and Thai culture just don't mix, it's just too polar in opposites, just as Muslim Indonesia has a problem with Israelis generally.

________________________________________________________________

Grape products made by non-Jews cannot be eaten? Wow, that sure is specific

[edit on 10-5-2009 by star in a jar]