‘It’s horrendous’
07:36, 02 Aug 2025Updated 08:08, 02 Aug 2025
Jamie Lee Watkins (left) and pal Jemma Louise Gough (right) from South Wales
Two music fans planning a visit to Manchester say they were left gobsmacked after an Airbnb host rejected their booking – because they’re Welsh.
Jemma Louise Gough, 38, and her best mate Jamie Lee Watkins, 37, will be travelling to the city from Cwmbran, South Wales, to see the Australian music producer Sonny Fodera at the Co-op Live Arena.
The pair had been trying to book a double room for one night at a property in Manchester for the show in November.
They wrote they were coming ‘from Wales to see the gig’.
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An hour after requesting the booking, they got an email saying it had been rejected.
Asked why their booking had been cancelled, the host responded with the message: “Because you’re from WALES.”
Jamie (left) and Jemma (right) will be travelling to the city for a gig
Mum-of-two Jemma, who works as a school support officer, said: “We had an email that our booking had been declined and we were getting a refund.
“We wrote ‘Hi, can I ask why it’s been declined?’, with a kiss, very politely. [They] wrote ‘because you’re from Wales’, in capital letters.
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“My mouth hit the floor – nothing else other than ‘because you’re from Wales’. It was nothing about us going to the concert or whatever, it was just discrimination of the country.
“We’re amazing people, the Welsh are lush. I don’t know what me and my friend – or the whole of Wales – did that’s so horrible.
“It’s absolutely horrendous.”
The pair have accused the host of ‘discrimination’
Jamie asked the host for further explanation as to why they’d had their booking rejected, saying it was ‘discrimination under the Equality Act 2010’.
She said her message was read, but received no response.
Registered nurse Jamie, who attempted to make the booking through her account, said: “I just thought, ‘oh my gosh, how can you say no just because I’m from Wales?’.
“It was really blunt, just one line: because you are from, in capitals, Wales. What difference does that make? I was just a bit shocked really that people still say things like that.
Their booking was rejected just an hour after being placed
“If [they] had said ‘I don’t want people going to concerts and coming back if they’d had a drink or something, I’d be like yeah, okay, that’s fine. That’s an explanation.”
Jemma decided to make an Instagram and Facebook reel complaining about the discrimination she and her friend had received.
An Airbnb spokesperson said: “Discrimination, including on the basis of nationality, has no place on Airbnb. As soon as this report was brought to our attention, we reached out to the guest to provide our support and suspended the host while we investigate this matter.”
The host declined to comment.