Arlo Hotels Called Out For Supporting Racist Who Attacked Teen Over Phone

The Arlo Hotel (SOHO) in NYC is being cancelled… For good reason too.

Source: valentinrussanov / Getty

Arlo Hotel in NYC has drawn the ire of the entire internet after trumpeter and composer Keyon Harrold, who was a guest at the hotel this weekend, shared a video of the hotel manager supporting the unfounded claims of a hysterical woman who accused his 14-year-old son of stealing her phone, physically attacking him in order to prevent him from leaving the hotel lobby. Harrold says an Uber driver returned the woman’s phone shortly after but neither she nor the hotel has apologized.

He posted the video to his Instagram account and it has since been shared by a number of other accounts, including that of Questlove, DL Hughley, Eric Roberson, Shaun King and several others.

Harrold’s message read:

I hate I have to post this!!!

I am furious!!! We see this crap happening all the time, but it hits different when it hits home!!! I typically try to keep things positive, but nothing about this video is positive.

The lady in this video assaulted my 14-year-old son and me as we came down from our room in the @arlohotels Arlo Soho to get breakfast. This person quote on quote “lost” her iPhone, and apparently, my son magically acquired it, which merely ridiculous. This incident went on for five more minutes, me protecting my son from this lunatic. She scratched me; she Tackled and grabbed him. He is a child!!! Now watch it again. This lady is not even a guest at the hotel. She checked out of the hotel on the 23rd of December; today is the 26th. Now watch as the manager advocates for the lady who is not even a hotel guest, insisting and attempting to use his managerial authority to force my son to show his phone to this random lady. He actually empowered her!!! He didn’t even consider the fact we were actually the guests! Now think about the trauma that my son now has to carry, only coming downstairs to have box day brunch with his dad. Then… her phone was magically returned by an Uber driver a few minutes after this incident. No apology from her after this traumatic situation to my son, not me. No apologies from the establishment. This sh*t happens so often. It needs to stop!!! If anyone recognizes this person, please tag or DM.

A number of folks have taken to the Arlo Hotel’s IG account, demanding an apology and that things be made right with the Harrold family.

One such comment on the hotel’s most recent post read:

“Never staying at this hotel after what happened to a guest, Keyon Harold, who was assaulted and falsely accused of theft and then assaulted by another guest of the hotel, while the hotel workers looked on! Why would anyone stay at an establishment that cant even keep their guests safe? Its a pitiful failure on arlo hotels part and indicative of how poorly run it is if these situations are allowed to happen. SHAME!”

Another comment read,

“Guess i wont be coming here. Be better.”

One commenter simply left an emoji of a trash bin 🗑 on the page.

Yet another read,

“Does part of the holidays include racially profiling and harassing innocent patrons? You owe @keyonharrold an apology and MUCH MORE.

We agree… So far Arlo Hotels has not apologized, but the account did reply to one comment saying, “We have just been made noticed of this and are extremely sorry that this happened, especially to a child, and are looking into this right away.”

SMH. That’s just not good enough.

Update: Arlo Hotel released the following statement in regards to Saturday’s incident:

We’re deeply disheartened about the recent incident of baseless accusation, prejudice, and assault against an innocent guest of Arlo Hotel. In investigating the incident further, we’ve learned that the manager on duty promptly called the police regarding the woman’s conduct and that hotel security intervened to prevent further violence; still, more could have been done to deescalate the dispute. No Arlo guest — or any person — should be subject to this kind of behavior. We want to apologize to Mr. Harrold and his son for this inexcusable experience, and have reached out to them directly to express our sincere regret and to offer help in dealing with this traumatic event. We are committed to making sure this never happens again at any of our hotels.

So basically, zero responsibility being taken for the manager’s actions.They “want to” apologize. Hmmm. Would you be satisfied with this statement if you were the Harrold’s? No one in the comments seems to be.