from Newstalk ZB
- Mario Schmidt, owner of Bluff Hill Lighthouse B&B in Napier, has turned away American guests due to Donald Trump’s ‘betrayal’ of Ukraine.
- Schmidt requires American guests to prove they are Democrats to honour their bookings, citing concerns about fascism.
- Hospitality NZ says the sector is supposed to be built on welcoming all guests and providing exceptional service, not discrimination based on nationality.
A Napier accommodation provider is turning away American guests as a way to fight back against Trump administration policies.
Mario Schmidt, owner of the Bluff Hill Lighthouse B&B, has cancelled the booking of “every” American guest who has booked a bed with him since February and has told them to blame US President Donald Trump and one of his key advisors, billionaire Elon Musk.
“All New Zealand accommodation businesses must start to resist the Trump and Musk regime,” Schmidt said.
“Doing nothing is no longer an option. We must raise awareness [of] the breakdown of democracy in the US.”
A US Embassy spokesperson said in their experience, New Zealanders were amazingly hospitable and friendly.
“We find this incident very surprising.”
Schmidt sent Hawke’s Bay Today the cancellation e-mail he had sent to one would-be guest, in which he says the B&B had changed its guest policy since Zelenskyy and Trump’s disastrous meeting in the White House in February, in which the US President accused his Ukrainian counterpart of “gambling with World War III”.
Mr Schmidt has the wrong definition of fascism; in fact, it is a term that could well have been applied to the Biden administration which actively tried to censor political opponents by various anti-democratic means.
And how do you prove you’re a Democrat? Send an ID photo like this?
