Being discriminated Against

taded

Hi Im not sure if Im posting this in the right section or not, I wondered if anyone could help or point me in the right direction in what to do?? Ok here goes In August this year we are going camping to Newquay with two friends and our 2 dogs. We are all women and we are couples. The other two are actually married. So I found what I thought to be a great campsite, close to the beach and so forth so I phoned them up to enquiry about prices on friday the 4th of this month. I said we were couples sharing a tent with two dogs and the lady gave me a price over the phone, she never asked if we were male and female. So when Id spoke to the other couple they said yes book it. On saturday I called again to book. I gave her my name and she asked about my partner and the other couple. As soon as I told her that we were all women I was told we were not allowed to stay there!!! I said why ever not?? she then said we were classed as a group and they dont accept groups!! I then proceeded to tell her that we were couples like anybody else!! She said no its not allowed on their campsite that all same sex groups are not allowed as they dont want the likes of hen and stag parties!! She said I think you would be better on an 18-30's campsite:mad: I then said NO we are ages 30-47 with two dogs we just want a quite peaceful break we are gay and not leapers!! She then said im sorry but you are not allowed to stay on this site :mad:
I was seething when I got off the phone and we have since found a campsite that will accept us. Please is there anything I can do about this as I feel let down and angry.

The campsite is called PORTH BEACH and its in Newquay I looked at the terms and conditions and its does say you are allowed to stay if ur mixed couples sharing a tent but not same sex!!!!

Thanks for taking the time to read this any replies are welcome

lucylucky

What do you want to do?

You can phone up the papers if you fancy a bit of publicity.

nellytheelephant

Maybe you could try booking separately? They may allow two females together, but not four.

To me it doesn't sound like they're discriminating because you're gay - just that they don't allow same sex groups, a lot of places do insist on this.... I don't know why they think mixed groups don't get rowdy mind you!

taded

It annoys me though that your allowed to stay in the same tent if your two males and two females and not be classed as a group. But because were all female we are classed as a group???

taded

We could have prob booked seperate and payed double the price as you pay per pitch by why should we have too??

nellytheelephant

It's an assumption that same sex groups will be noisy/drinking blah blah blah - as I say, I don't see why they assume mixed sex groups wouldn't be.

Somewhere like Newquay particularly, hence her comment about 18-30, they get a lot of young groups going down in the summer. I can see why you're angry, but I do think it may be worth trying to book two separately - even if just to put your mind at rest that they weren't discriminating because you're gay

nellytheelephant

taded wrote: »

We could have prob booked seperate and payed double the price as you pay per pitch by why should we have too??

Cross post there - I don't know if you'd still want to stay there, but you could try to book just to see? If that makes sense!

halibut2209

They are quite entitled to say they don't want groups. There's no such thing as "numberism"

You are not being discriminated against because of your sexuality. At the end of the day, it's them that have lost custom. Enjoy your trip!

taded

I do see your point nelly but if they didnt let mixed couples stay in the same tents then it wouldnt be bothering me so much and they're not classed as a group?? I did tell her that one couple were married and were not larger louts!! bloody hell we have a child and are like anybody else.

Hermia

nellytheelephant wrote: »

To me it doesn't sound like they're discriminating because you're gay - just that they don't allow same sex groups

The OP's account of the conversation makes me think the woman on the phone didn't actually take in what the OP meant when she said they were couples. It doesn't sound like she was being homophobic rather that she was convinced they were a group trying to sneak in. I have met people who literally can't get their heads around the idea that two women could be a couple and I wonder if this woman is the same. I do wonder why they would be quite so unbending with the rules. Would they really turn down a booking from a group of elderly sisters?

OP - I would write to the managers/directors of the camp site and see what they say first.

taded

Yes Hermia Im going to write a letter. In the past we have never had this problem before when booking to go camping. Im always honest when booking a room or a holiday that my partner is female. Luckily we have booked elsewhere.