Hilton got played, at best. Everpeak Hospitality lied. The Department of Homeland Security told the truth. And now Hilton wants to avoid the social and commercial consequences of going woke in the most ridiculous way possible.
If you haven't read about the denial of hotel rooms to ICE officers in Lakeville, Minnesota, read David's post yesterday first. Briefly, ICE employees got their reservations canceled because the Hampton Inn in Lakeville refused to provide service to anyone enforcing immigration law. That particular Hampton Inn is owned by a franchisee named Everpeak Hospitality, but the e-mail notification of the cancellation and the reason for it came from a hilton.com domain service.
DHS then blasted Hilton for denying service to law enforcement, which prompted Hilton to promise an investigation. Both Hilton and Everpeak Hospitality apologized for the "error," and promised corrective action. Independent journalist Nick Sortor decided to conduct a (barely) undercover investigation and discovered that Everpeak Hospitality still refused service to DHS and ICE employees:
🚨 BREAKING EXCLUSIVE: I went into the Minnesota Hilton who “apologized” for banning DHS agents, and EXPOSED them for CONTINUING to ban DHS agents@HiltonHotels has decided they want the FULL BUDLIGHT treatment at this point.
— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) January 6, 2026
Hilton’s operator, Everpeak, STRAIGHT UP LIED in… pic.twitter.com/3g97P7okpz
Hilton’s operator, Everpeak, STRAIGHT UP LIED in their statement yesterday which said they were “in touch” with DHS to accommodate impacted agents, and “do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies.”
NONE of that was true. There was NO attempt to reach DHS agents to make it right, per Asst. DHS Sec. @TriciaOhio
Even the FRONT DESK manager said he had spoken with the owner shortly before I walked in around 10:50pm, and confirmed the ANTI-DHS POLICY REMAINED IN EFFECT.
REVOKE THEIR LICENSE, HILTON, OR IT’S GOING TO COST YOU DEARLY. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
This is an INCREDIBLY dumb battle to choose!
Let's be clear. As a private business, Hilton and Everpeak have the right to refuse service to anyone, with certain exceptions for protected-class discrimination laws. No one should suggest this is illegal. What it is, though, is monumentally stupid. They can refuse service, but millions of consumers can choose to refuse patronage, too. That's exactly what happened with Bud Light, Target, and other brands that went woke and went broke over the last couple of years.
Immigration is a particularly dumb battle to choose, from a corporate perspective as well as a political issue. Immigration enforcement has been one of the biggest issues for voters over the last five years. In the latest Harvard-Harris CAPS poll, it ranks third behind economic issues and health care among about twenty different issue sets polled. In the same poll, 80% of respondents want illegal aliens who commit other crimes deported, 70% want the border closed, amd 54% want all illegal immigrants deported regardless of other criminal activity.
Hilton and Everpeak want to use their corporate weight to interfere with those efforts. More importantly, they are trying to obstruct policies for which Americans voted in the 2024 election, not to mention a passive obstruction to the enforcement of the law. And now, it's pretty clear that Hilton and Everpeak lied their corporate asses off yesterday to avoid the commercial consequences of those actions.
This morning, Hilton tried to fix this a second time this morning:
BREAKING: Hilton to remove independently owned hotel in Minnesota from their systems after @nicksortor video appears to show they were still banning DHS/ICE employees from booking rooms at the hotel following a statement they issued in which they said they had fixed the issue. https://t.co/Bq6hSiY1Zd
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) January 6, 2026
That may address the issue at the one Hampton Inn. What about other Everpeak Hospitality locations? It's not clear how many Hilton properties Everpeak owns as a franchisee. Their website provides no details on their portfolio. It features photos of three properties: the Lakeville Hampton Inn, a Comfort Suites hotel (under the Choice Hotels umbrella), and a Fairfield by Marriott elsewhere in Minnesota. Everpeak Hospitality is a Minnesota limited-liability company organized in Owatonna:
The hotel involved is the Hampton Inn in Lakeville, located outside Minneapolis. According to news reports, the property was purchased last summer for $15 million by Everpeak Hospitality, an entity registered in Owatonna, Minnesota.
Public records filed with the Minnesota Secretary of State in June show that the hotel was acquired through a limited liability company owned by four Indian partners: Parmjit Singh, Amanpreet Hundal, Karandeep Nagra, and Mohinderjeet Kaur.
It's possible that Everpeak only owns this one Hilton location. However, Hilton is being awfully coy about this in its statement and its odd specificity about "this hotel," and not its relationship with the franchisee.
Everpeak did promise change, too. The message referenced by Hilton appears at the top of her website:
Everpeak Hospitality has moved swiftly to address this matter as it was inconsistent with our policy of being a welcoming place for all. We are in touch with the impacted guests to ensure they are accommodated. We do not discriminate against any individuals or agencies and apologize to those impacted. We are committed to welcoming all guests and operating in accordance with brand standards, applicable laws, and our role as a professional hospitality provider.
"Swiftly" is either a term of art or an exercise in satire. The denial of service to law enforcement was clearly not an accident. Nick Sortor's video shows that this was a policy set by the owner/management of the Hampton Inn as part of the Hilton brand. Everpeak – and maybe Hilton – must have thought that the story would die if they just issued a PR statement, while continuing to deny service to people attempting to enforce the law as part of the mandate from voters in the most recent national election.
Of course, that's their right. And it's the right of consumers to choose options other than Hilton when seeking travel accommodations. There are plenty of other choices in the mid-level hospitality market, just as there are for lightweight barley pops that don't crap on the values of their customers. Hilton may still have time to correct this, but their first attempt doesn't do much to restore their credibility. Let's see how many other ICE employees and undercover journalists get denied service at other Everpeak and Hilton locations. They should now expect a lot of challenges on this policy in the days to come, and plenty of social media updates with the results.
Addendum: Will Marriott have anything to say about their partnership with Everpeak?
Update: Hilton is confirming that they have terminated their franchise agreement with Everpeak:
Confirming your comment. https://t.co/EFXgfRG6Ui
— Hilton Newsroom (@HiltonNewsroom) January 6, 2026
Better late than never, or a day late and a dollar short? We'll see when others test Hilton locations in other areas. Stay tuned.
Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.
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