Reservation Site Drops Swiss Hotel Over Signs for ‘Jewish Guests'

While the hotel still appeared on the website early Thursday, administrators blocked guests from scheduling reservations.

"We're sorry, but it is currently not possible to make reservations for this accommodation on our website," the page initially read. However, if you were to search the property now, you'd only get suggestions of different hotels within Arosa, Switzerland.

"We do not tolerate discrimination of any kind," a Booking.com representative told Shimon Samuels, the Paris-based director for the Simon Wiesenthal Center. "We can confirm that the property in question is no longer available on Booking.com."

Following the first reports, the Simon Wiesenthal Center urged "the broader Jewish Community and their Gentile friends to blacklist this horrific hotel" after Switzerland's tourism office called the incident "unfortunate."

Located roughly 80 miles from Zurich, the Paradies Arosa hotel first placed a sign informing its Jewish clients to shower before swimming, saying if not, management would have to close down the amenity.

​The second sign, also addressed to their "Jewish guests," added the guests could only use the refrigerator during its posted times, concluding "I hope you understand that our team does not like to be disturbed every time."

Though the signs were later removed, Ruth Thomann, the manager, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency she has "nothing against the Jews" adding "the signs should have been addressed to all the guests instead of Jewish ones."

According to the hotelier, the signs were posted in an attempt to calm guests who were feeling uncomfortable.

"The behavior of some of those guests [were] making other guests feel uncomfortable, and we received complaints so we [needed] to be responsible for all our guests and find a balance," Thomann indicated. The guests she was referring to included Orthodox Jews from the United Kingdom, Belgium and Israel.

Responding to the incident, Israel's Deputy Foreign Minister Tzopi Hotovely released a statement calling the signs "an anti-Semitic act of the worst and ugliest kind."

"Unfortunately, anti-Semitism in Europe is still a reality, and we must make sure that the punishment for incidents such as these will serve as deterrents for those who still harbor the germ of anti-Semitism," Hotovely added.

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