Duke and Duchess of Cambridge refused room at luxury French hotel because it was fully booked
'We could not tell people who have booked with us for months, sorry, but the Royal Family is coming, we will have to cancel'
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Your support makes all the difference.A luxury hotel in France has turned down a booking from the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry saying it would be “unethical” to cancel existing reservations to make way for the Royals.
Le Hôtel Marotte in Amiens said it would not be able to accommodate the Royals while they represent Britain at the centenary of the Battle of the Somme in France, as they were "already booked solid".
The Royal Family and their aides are understood to have requested four suites for two nights between 30 June and 1 July at the only five-star hotel near the battlefields, according to French newspaper Courrier Picard.
The hotel's manager, Oliver Walti, told the paper they were contacted by the French Foreign Ministry in January about the suites, but were unable to accept the offer.
“The Foreign Ministry has contacted us in January to see if we were able to accommodate the Royal Family on the occasion of the Somme commemorations," said Mr Walti.
"We had to decline the offer, it is impossible, we are already booked solid.
“We could not tell people who have booked with us for months and who have already paid for their stay, sorry, but the Royal Family is coming, we will have to cancel. It’s just unthinkable ethically.”
Estelle Walti, who runs the hotel with her husband, told the Daily Mail: “We’ve been booked up for this period for a month, so unfortunately we couldn’t help them.
"It’s not because we didn’t want the Royals here - it’s just that we weren’t going to let other customers down.”
The hotel, which describes itself a “5 star boutique hotel” has twelve rooms in both traditional and modern buildings, which cost up to £350-a-night.
According to Courrier Piccard, it provides services such as a luggage valet, round the clock room service and rose petals and warm dressing gowns on demand.
The hotel has previously accommodated two heads of state and celebrities such as Lenny Kravitz.
According to Tripadvisor there are no available rooms in Amiens over the two nights the Royals are expected to be in the city, with many rooms being booked up over a year in advance in anticipation of the centenary of the Battle of the Somme.
Hundreds of people including royals, politicians and relatives of those who died in the 1916 battle are due to arrive in the city for the occasion commemorating one of the largest battles of the First World War fought by the British and French armies against the German Empire on both sides of the River Somme.
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