Multiple couples’ wedding plans were disrupted and homeless veterans were displaced when a hotel canceled blocks of previously-booked rooms to make way for migrants, WNBC and Mid Hudson News reported Friday.
“It was absolutely devastating, groom-to-be Gary Moretti, 35, told the Daily Mail.
“We felt discarded, disappointed and angry that they just tossed us aside to make an extra dollar for the hotel. It’s just not right,” bride-to-be Deanna Mifsud, 35, told the New York Post.
Monday, two New York counties declared states of emergency in advance of the ending of Title 42, as TheBlaze reported. The Crossroads Hotel in Newburgh is located in Orange County, near the Moretti and Mifsud’s wedding venue in in the Hudson Valley.
“We signed a contract. We had a legal contract to have those rooms,” Moretti told the Post.
Wedding parties were not the only ones to be pushed aside to make way for migrants. The same hotel kicked out homeless veterans who were temporarily housed there, according to Mid Hudson News.
“Whether you agree or disagree with migrants being housed in the Hudson Valley, I believe all of us can agree that this issue should not negatively impact our homeless veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country,” Sharon Toney-Finch of the YIT Foundation told the outlet. YIT is a nonprofit that works to “provide permanent housing to homeless military veterans.”
The Crossroads Hotel was included in a trio of lawsuits filed by Orange County and the town of Newburgh Friday. Other defendants include New York City and the Ramada by Wyndham, WNBC reported. The goal of the suits is to block New York City’s Mayor Eric Adams from bussing groups of migrants to the county and housing them there in hotels.
“It’s a complete mess and the government has not been forthright and honest with us,” Orange County Executive Steve Nehaus said.
Another couple, Sean and Nicole of Queens, called the situation “hectic” and “unbelievable” in an interview with the outlet. The couple’s last names were not provided.
The couple say they are set to be married in about a week, and they have family flying from Ireland, England, Canada, Ecuador, and Japan for the nuptials.
Sean and Nicole said they also booked rooms at The Crossroads, and are now out of luck, as the hotel canceled their reservations for a 37-room block. They say the hotel manager eventually told them all blocks of rooms had been canceled for the next few months.
Adding insult to injury, the couple say they were not proactively contacted about the time-sensitive matter by the hotel manager. Instead, they learned of the cancellation when they called to inquire and are now scrambling to make alternative plans.
“All affected guests will be contacted for assistance with rebooking their upcoming reservations,” a spokesman for Choice Hotels, the brand under which the Crossroads Hotel operates, told the New York Post.
The Crossroads Hotel did answer WNBC’s multiple phone calls nor did the hotel respond to a message from the New York Post.
Watch WNBC’s coverage below of The Crossroads Hotel allegedly cancelling blocks of room reservations for multiple wedding parties to make way for migrants being bussed in from New York City.
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