"I'm just standing there crying:" Families turned away from hotels for living too close

MILWAUKEE -- They booked reservations at local hotels. When they arrived, they were turned away. The reason is where they live.

Mary Schwabe of Racine was planning a staycation for her family.

"We decided to take our grandkids during the Christmas holiday to a hotel," Schwabe recalled. "I found this Comfort Suites, which had a splash pad, which for a one, three and four-year-old, that is like, perfect."

Less than a week after booking, she got a call from the hotel, which is near the Milwaukee airport.

"She told me she was canceling my reservation. There was just no way around it," Schwabe said.

Turns out, the hotel has a policy that its guests either be a business traveler or live more than 30 miles away.

"They told me they had issues with people coming to stay in the area -- not taking care of the facility, damaging things and stuff," Schwabe said.

The Wisco Hotel Group tells FOX6's Contact 6 before this policy it had "major problems with local guests using/misusing our hotels…for local parties and events." It went on to say "rooms become overcrowded" and "there was extensive noise" and "littering."

"I just wanted the dang splash pad. That's all I wanted," Schwabe said.

Schwabe was told had she booked directly through the hotel -- instead of a third party -- her reservation would have been rejected.

"So, I tried it," Schwabe said.

Again, she says the reservation was accepted and this time there was no call to cancel.

When she arrived at the hotel, it was a no-go.

The family was directed to a nearby hotel. It did have a pool for the kids, but no splash pad.

"Discrimination is a big word, and I don't really like to throw it around, but I feel like I'm discriminated against because someone else did this kind of stuff," Schwabe said.

In response, Wisco Hotel Group says, "simply stated, no."

Nyoka Green of Milwaukee said she booked rooms at the Holiday Inn near the airport for her step-daughter's Sweet 16 party.

When they showed up, she was turned away.

"I'm just standing there crying," Green recalled. "Now, I have an ice cream cake melting. I have all this food. Four kids that are actually right here and one walked in through the door."

Green says she was told the hotel doesn't accept reservations from her zip code or anywhere within 30 miles.

"I was more so offended because this particular zip code there are a lot of African-Americans in, and I was kinda like, is this, I didn't know where to go at that moment. Is this a racial thing, or is this just, I didn't know what to think," Green said.

The family was able to eventually book rooms at a hotel nearby. The party started more than three hours late.

"We tried to salvage what was left of the cake, it didn't happen. We just had to toss it. We just basically tried to make the best of a really bad situation," Green said.

The Hotel Group says it does its best to cancel these reservations in advance. It apologized for any inconvenience and says other hotels in Milwaukee have the same policy.

The Wisconsin Hotel and Lodging Association tells Contact 6 "it is the right and expectation of the lodging property to take steps necessary to protect their customers and their property."

It says "excessive noise, exceeding the legal occupancy limits of rooms, violating the laws… are examples of when a property will naturally wish to protect themselves and their guests."

Both families tell Contact 6 they did receive full refunds for their reservations.

Here is the full explanation from Clint Wills, Regional Vice President for the Wisco Hotel Group: