The owner of a B&B who turned down a Romanian student because of his nationality has said she had no choice because of an agreement with the local council.

Alexandru Hegyi made a reservation for one night in Tilburg on March 28 via Booking.com, but received a letter from the owner of the accommodation saying: ‘We have an agreement with the municipality of Tilburg, our accommodation no longer receives Romeinse [Romanian, DN] people’.

The owner of the B&B on Bosscheweg told Omroep Brabant she had agreed with the council to turn down any requests by Romanian nationals after she was fined €25,000 for allowing Romanians to use her rooms for illegal prostitution.

But Tilburg council denied that the owner was banned from accommodating Romanians.

‘The owner of this B&B has been involved before in illegal prostitution and has been fined. Any other measures she takes we don’t know anything about,’ a spokesman said.

The owner of the B&B could not provide a copy of the alleged agreement and has since been unavailable for comment.

Hegyi, who has filed a complaint with the council, said he wants the ‘blatant discrimination’ to be discussed on a diplomatic level and has raised it with Romanian politicians.

‘What next?’ he said. ‘Will Romanians be forbidden to walk down the street or visit a restaurant?’

Booking.com has removed the B&B from its listing.