Brit youngster on holiday on Costa del Sol ‘banned from hotel kids’ club because of BREXIT’
A UK family said they were left feeling like 'outcasts' after being given lesser treatment than their French and Spanish counterparts
A LITTLE Brit boy was banned from attending a kids club party while holidaying in Spain because he wasn’t French - with his grandparents speaking out against the racist treatment they say has got worse since Brexit.
Grandparents Lynne and Bob Cunliffe had travelled for a nine-night holiday at Hotel Roc in Torremolinos, Spain when they say they were confronted by double standards by hotel staff, leaving their four-year-old grandson Kai in tears.
Furious Lynne, 58, said her grandson had been attending the hotel’s kids club every night but when she tried to drop him off on Tuesday night, she was told the four-year-old could no longer attend.
She said: “I went along and said, ‘my grandson would like to join you’ but the lady said ‘no, it’s for the French children’.
“I was taken aback and asked again but she said no. I went absolutely ballistic, I hit the roof.”
She said her grandson was left upset after being excluded from the party, with the determined grandmother taking up the issue with reception.
Ms Cunliffe said: “There was a lady manager at the desk and I told her that I was furious, and I didn’t understand why my grandchild was refused access to the kids club.
“He had enjoyed playing the games and it was just racist not letting him join in.
“You explain to my grandson at four-years-old that he can’t play with that child.”
She said other UK families were also told the kids club was closed while the French children were allowed to play.
She said the family, from Leigh in Greater Manchester, were left feeling “discriminated against”, with tourists from the UK even given different, less expensive ice cream at dinner.
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Spanish and French tourists were also given tours of the facilities and allowed to check in earlier, while the UK tourists were left to fend for themselves and not allowed to check into their rooms until 2pm.
Ms Cunliffe said: “At the end of the day, we were just pushed to one side.”
Husband Bob Cunliffe said the family had been made to feel like outcasts.
He told The Sun Online: “It’s because we are coming out of the EU – they are so dismissive of the English now because of Brexit, they think we have already left and it’s only going to get worse.
“It puts you off of travelling – I felt vulnerable, which I had never really experienced before.”
He said the staff treated the family “like we don’t exist”.
But the disillusioned couple are not the only ones to feel discriminated against, with many UK tourists taking to travel websites like Tripadvisor to complain about their treatment.
One traveller wrote: ““if your (sic) not French or Spanish forget it.
“If your (sic) French or Spanish what treatment they get staff all in suits giving them all sorts of cocktails and lollipops for kids while other kids are looking on.”
Another unhappy traveller from Northern Ireland wrote: “The Animation Team were NOT very friendly and unless you were French they didn't speak to you at all… Won't be back to this hotel ads (sic) we were made to feel like Second Class Citizens.”
Another, named as Kevin, wrote on Trip Advisor that the hotel’s food was good quality "however, if you are English and want a relaxing time don't bother going here.”
The Roc Hotel has been approached for comment.
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