Hilton drops Minneapolis hotel over cancelled ICE bookings

By Doyinsola Oladipo

NEW YORK, Jan 6 (Reuters) – Hilton Worldwide Holdings has removed a Minneapolis hotel from its system after it refused to accept Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials’ reservations, the hotelier said on Tuesday.

The Hampton Inn hotel, a Hilton brand outside Minneapolis, Minnesota, refused to accommodate ICE agents, the Department of Homeland Security said in a post on social media platform X on Monday.

‌The Trump administration increased the number of officers in the region following allegations of fraud involving Somali immigrants.

“We are taking immediate action to remove this hotel from our systems. Hilton has always been a welcoming place for everyone,” the company said in X.

Amid mixed reactions from consumers online, with some calling for a boycott and others vowing to support Hilton, the hotelier becomes the latest US company after Cracker Barrel to distance itself from moves criticized by the Trump administration and its base.

Hilton made his comments after a video appeared on

“A recently released video clearly highlights concerns that they do not meet our standards and values,” Hilton said. Hilton said in a previous statement that the property is independently owned and operated.

DHS Deputy Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the department welcomes Hilton’s move Tuesday.

“Discriminatory business practices that target DHS and deliberately undermine federal law enforcement are un-American and have real business consequences,” he said in a statement about X.

Everpeak Hospitality, which operates the Hampton Inn, was not immediately available to comment on the video Tuesday. It was stated that affected guests were contacted on Monday to ensure their accommodation.

“We do not discriminate against any person or organization and we apologize to those affected,” the website said.

McLaughlin told X that the agency had not heard from Everpeak Hospitality.

DHS said Monday that after ICE officers booked rooms using official government emails and rates, a staff member at the Hampton Inn canceled their reservation on Jan. 2.

“We do not allow any ICE or immigration agents to remain at our facility,” read an email from the hotel posted by DHS on X.

The hotelier’s shares rose 2.09 percent in afternoon trading after falling 2.46 percent at Monday’s close.

(Reporting by Anshuman Tripathy in Bengaluru and Doyinsola Oladipo in New York; Editing by ‌Barbara Lewis, Alexandra Hudson and Daniel Wallis)