Ministry launches probe into Turkish hotel’s ‘nationality’ charge
Turkey’s Tourism Ministry has launched an investigation into the Limak Lara Hotel in the southern Antalya province for charging a guest an extra “nationality fee” of 120 Euros. The hotel belongs to Limak Holding, known for its close ties with the AKP government.
Duvar English
The Culture and Tourism Ministry of Turkey on April 28 announced that it has launched an investigation into the Limak Lara Hotel in the Mediterranean province of Antalya, for charging a guest an extra “nationality fee.”
The hotel had charged the Romanian national who booked their stay through a United Kingdom intermediary an extra 120 Euros, reflected onto the invoice as a “nationality difference fee.”
The ministry requested an official defense from the hotel and appointed a controller for auditing.
The hotel administration issued a statement after the incident went viral on social media.
“Writing out what originally was a price matching as nationality difference fee has misrepresented our intents,” stated the hotel.
The hotel also apologized for using wording such as “nationality difference fee,” which caused misunderstanding.
According to the hotel, the guests have misrepresented their nationality as Turkish while booking their stays.
As the guests' passports were revealed during check-in, the administration added a 120 euro fee to match its regular pricing for non-Turkish guests.
The hotel belongs to Limak Holding, one of the five Turkish construction giants known for their close ties with the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government.
The Turkish government has been accused of favorably handing out tenders to these five companies through the private-public partnership (PPP) system.