You can't both fight for freedom and deny the freedom to run your business as you see fit, as long as those people are not selected on the basis of protected states, like race or religion, and certain standards are observed.

If the hotel management claims that they have had previous problems with service members I have to take it at face value. I have lived on and near military bases and yes, servicemen can get together and cause both disruptions and lots of damage. Often leaving without paying for the damage.

In the US it is common for hotels around major military bases to photocopy the military ID offered and have the MPs and base administrative officer on speed-dial. A system is set up to, maintain civility, document damage, get it compensated for and extract money and met out justice to the servicemen responsible. This is one of the only reasons many hotels around bases will take in the military. They know they are pretty well covered.

Historically service members were not always welcome at hotels in the US. In part because of their partying and rough behavior but also because, until the mid-70s, military pay at the lower grades was quite poor. This was one of the the reason behind the USO. It was set up to make sure servicemen made transport connections, got fed, and had a place to sleep as they traveled.

The reason that most bases had low-cost on-base housing, low-cost on-base shopping and favorably priced services for service members and their families was to compensate for their poor pay. This also served to limit friction with the civilian population near the base.

Perhaps their is no similar system in place for the Brits. If you were a hotel owner and had lost money because servicemen had wrecked rooms you would start to take note. If it happens repeatedly it isn't unreasonable to ban the group causing the problems. You can't expect a business owner to continue to rent rooms to any group he will lose money losing on.

Also military personnel are not automatically "heroes". They are pretty much what they were before they went into service. Most are about as decent as anyone else. But the punks are probably still punks. The bullies, bullies. Service can in time mellow and knock some of the rough edges off a personality to their benefit but they don't automatically or immediately become heroes just because they put on a uniform.

Most are, on average, at least as good human beings as the average civilian. They get credit for their service but so do policemen, firemen, teachers, and anyone else who goes out of their way to serve their society and nation.

A thought goes to a story about a garbageman who noticed a long term customer hadn't put out her trash. He thinks this is odd and, on his own time, he drives out to the house. Unable to raise anyone inside with the doorbell he looks into a window and sees the elderly lady on the floor. He calls 911, breaks down the door and does his best to help her until the ambulance arrived. She had fallen and been unable to get help, food or water for three days. In my book he is something of a hero. Without expecting any award or compensation he went out of his way to check on someone he could have ignored.

A large black man he looks every bit a gang-banger. Exactly the sort many people might not trust or rent to.

There are heroic figures all around. It isn't just those in the military. Perhaps if those in England who are giving the hotel owner such a hard time would open their houses to servicemen they wouldn't need to worry about finding a place to sleep. Problem solved.

Thoughtful and well-written.

Monumental stupidity has a price, usually monetary. I let customers learn that every day.

I would agree that the owners of the hotel are entitled to run the business as they see fit, provided that they dont discriminate on race or religion.

However I and most others find the decision offensive, and as a result I would never use this hotel chain, and would ask anyone patriotic also not to patronise it.
If as a result, the owners go bust, and I hope that they do, then thats the result of taking a perfectly legal but potentialy unwise, and certainly unpopular, bussines decision.

Here in the UK I dont think that soldiers in general are treated as well as is the case in the USA, which is very sad, though there has been a slight improvement recently.

A right wing political party recently stated that asylum seekers and illegal immigrants are better treated than soldiers, this might be rabble-rousing, but if true it is shocking.

It is true that some soldiers behave badly when off duty, especialy when excessive drink has been taken, and I would hope that any soldiers reading this would think twice before behaving in a way that gives a poor image of the armed services.

I think that mostly this is an argument against blanket policies. If the hotel had banned soldiers on the basis they were carrying grocery bags full of beer or looked inebriated or simply rowdy they could have continued to do so. If they had taken in the totality of the situation. Cast on the soldier's arm, traveling from out of town. If they'd asked conversationally,"why are you in town?" and gotten the response about a funeral detail, they wouldn't have had a problem. Blanket policies are a way to avoid thinking and taking responsibility, or placing responsibility. The same is true for zero-tolerance policies of weapons or drugs or just about anything. At a school with a zero-tolerance policy on drugs a teacher or administrator never has to dig deeper and ask why. They can move directly to calling the police or meting out the prescribed punishment.

Its also true that the soldiers at the nearby base ruined it for everyone by trashing the hotel. As one of my classmates in ROTC liked to say, "This is why we can't have nice things." I don't have a problem with people partying, I just have two rules: Don't keep me up all night and clean up after yourself. If you follow those two rules, people will usually leave you alone.

I have seen this type of treatment is everywhere. Here in the States and overseas. I have even seen it outside post, in TEXAS! For me, most of the civilian population doesn't understand and really don't care for the military. As long as they can drink their coffee and complain about high gas prices, they don't want us around. I read an article in the Army Times years ago, I wish I could find it again. It goes like this. Civilians are like sheep, not doing much just standing around. The military, police and first responders are the sheep dogs. Now the sheep don't want the sheep dogs around because they keep them together and make them go places. Now, the wolves, the murders, robbers rapist, tangos, you know the bad guys, come around. The sheep scream for protection, cowarding behind the sheep dogs. After the sheep dogs service the threat, the sheep want the dogs to go away again. Now, I Love this country and it's people. I am very tired of seeing people treat service members like door mats.

Sadly nothing new, either here or in the UK.

Kipling wrote about it in "Tommy"

Some quotes:

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
. . .

For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot
. . .
(and the last line)
An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

It is just like the scene in Berkley Califonia. The town wants the Marines to leave. They said they are invading!!! I wish the Marines would show them what a real invasion is! The people that scoff at the military should have to go to the hot spots and see wht is really going on. Then their tune would really change. They would not be screaming that a tango's rights are being stepped on when questioned. Sometimes I.., lets not go there. Let my brothers in arms in the UK know that we feel and know their pain.

If I were the Marines, I would be more than happy to get outta Bizzerkly...

"You can't both fight for freedom and deny the freedom to run your business as you see fit ..."

True. But don't whine and complain when people object. Your decision, you deal with the backwash.

Sue