A hotel in the Bavarian Forest region of southern Germany has apologized after sending an Israeli guest a message stating, “Sorry, there are no Jews allowed in our hotel” — attributing the remark to an employee’s frustration over fraudulent bookings, an explanation that left observers wondering what a ban on Jewish guests has to do with phishing attempts.

The Hotel Zum Hirschen, located near the town of Lam close to Bavaria’s border with the Czech Republic, sent the message through the Booking.com platform after an Israeli family submitted a reservation request. The message was confirmed as authentic by the Israeli consulate in Munich.

Talya Lador, Israel’s consul general to southern Germany, posted a screenshot of the message on X on Monday. “Are we back in the 1930s?” she wrote in German. Following her post, Booking.com removed the hotel from its listings, blocking further reservations through the platform.

Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, told Israel’s N12 News that “something must be done — when they write ‘No entry for Jews’ they are no longer hiding.”

In an apology letter subsequently sent to the guest — and also forwarded to the office of the Bavarian state premier — the hotel’s owners attributed the message to an employee acting out of “frustration” over fraudulent reservations.

“It is extremely important to us that you understand that this remark was not directed at people of the Jewish faith, but was made out of frustration at the numerous fake bookings,” the letter stated, while acknowledging that “this was unacceptable and must not happen in a professional business.”

The hotel did not explain how concern over fraudulent reservations would lead an employee to invoke the religion of a prospective guest.

The hotel offered the Israeli guest and his family a complimentary one-week stay to “get to know us personally, and to prove to you that we are not bad people who discriminate against others.” The junior director, Andreas Vogl, told the dpa news agency that the message does not reflect the hotel’s “world view at all.” The owner separately described the reply as a “regrettable mistake” caused by human error.

The hotel initially denied having sent the message before later acknowledging that an employee had done so.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany called for a full investigation. “Even though I have taken note of the apology for this unacceptable remark, it remains shocking that someone would not only have such thoughts but also put them down in writing and send them out,” said Council President Josef Schuster.

The guest filed a formal complaint with the Bavarian Justice Ministry’s commissioner for combating antisemitism. Bavarian authorities have confirmed they are reviewing the case to determine whether the message warrants criminal proceedings under German law.

Antisemitic offenses in Germany reached a record high in 2024, with 6,236 incidents recorded, including 173 violent crimes. In the first half of 2025 alone, authorities logged more than 2,000 antisemitic offenses. The Central Council of Jews in Germany has described the post-October 7 surge in antisemitism as a “new normality.”

The Sperl-Vogl family, which owns the hotel, said they have since received threats and calls for violence following the public outcry over the incident, though they produced no evidence to this effect.

The incident occurred just days after Yad Vashem announced it would open its first education center outside of Israel — in Bavaria. Bavarian Minister-President Markus Söder had commented on that announcement, saying, “Jewish life has a firm place in Bavaria.”