Wellington hotelier cops abuse from both sides of anti-mandate protest

Monday, 21 February 2022

The manager of a large accommodation company says businesses in Wellington are being caught in the crossfire between anti-mandate protesters and their opponents.

While many attending the protest, which began 14 days ago, have set up camp the grounds of Parliament and surrounding streets, others are staying in hotels and apartments in the central city.

Some of those businesses now find themselves the target of angry social media posts and negative online reviews from people on both sides of the debate.

The manager, who Stuff has agreed not to name to protect his staff and business, said its properties in the capital had not required proof of vaccination from guests prior to the end of last week.

Many attending the protest in Wellington have set up camp the grounds of Parliament, while others are staying in hotels and apartments in the CBD.

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“Due to the unique fully self-contained nature of our units, it seemed logical to look after as many people as we could and still remain deeply committed to everyone’s safety,” he said.

However, that position had backfired because of the “angry politics” of the protesters and their opponents.

“When the protestors first arrived at Parliament, it became apparent some were staying in our facilities. [That was] no problem, until their social media presence started calling us pro the freedom movement and that we stood by their side. This in turn started their opposition berating us for supporting.”

As the abuse from both sides continued to spread on social media, the decision was made on Thursday to move to a “self-imposed mandate” that all guests must show a valid vaccine pass.

“The war then completely reversed and the aggression and behaviour got even worse. Now the anti-movement are going on travel booking platforms and rating us one star because we are ‘prejudiced’ and the anti-anti team are thanking us for our stand,” he said.

The company had already suffered greatly because of Covid-19, with the first wave in 2020 resulting in the loss of 50 per cent of its business and 40 per cent of its staff being made redundant.

In the middle of last year, it was able to begin slowly re-employing most of those workers as business started to grow again.

“Then it all happened again and this time it’s worse because we cannot even support our team with help from a subsidy. Why would anyone want to help further destroy the tourism and accommodation sector just because we will not stand on either side?” he said.

“I feel like we are standing on the sideline of an English football game and getting attacked, not because we are supporting the other team, but because we are not supporting either. The difference is, this attack threatens a business already beaten down by Covid itself.”