Florida Hotel Kicks Nearly 100 Guests Out Onto The Street After Business Is Sold To New Owners

A Florida hotel abruptly kicked out all of its guests and fired its staff hours after the business was sold. 

Imagine chilling in your hotel, and then all of a sudden BOOM, you and your bags are on the street with no other hotel reservation. That’s what apparently happened to nearly 100 guests who booked rooms at the Champions World Resort in Kissimmee, Florida. On Thursday, the hotel was sold to new owners and was immediately shut down. 

According to Newsweek, management told guests to leave the building that day even though some of them didn’t have to leave until 4 p.m, according to WOFL Fox 35 Orlando. Florida Representative Darren Soto, who represents Kissimmee in the state’s 9th Congressional District, told Newsweek on Friday that the entire ordeal needs to be looked into. 

“This is a clear deceptive and unfair trade practice that should be investigated by the Florida attorney general,” Soto said. One of the guests, Andrea Skhy, said she was contacted by the general manager who told her that “the hotel had been sold and that all staff and guests needed to vacate the property today,” according to Fox 35. She added that the GM told her “third-party agencies” would be refunding guests their money back. 

Fox 35 reports that the new owners planned on shutting off the power by midnight. The website for the hotel was taken down just hours after it was confirmed that the building had been sold. 

“We don’t have anywhere to go. Our flights are for the 7th, and I’ve already paid, and this is a big inconvenience,” said guest Victoria Oquendo.” They didn’t let us know. We booked it months ahead. We’ve been here already a week.” She told Fox 35 that she was traveling from Rhode Island with 14 other members of her family. “It’s a lot of us, so it is not like we can just book one room or two. And it’s spring break; everything is super expensive,” she said.