Former Naval Reservist's 17-Year Hotel Ban Lifted After Crazy Seagull Incident

A former naval reservist has been told he can again stay at a hotel, nearly 18 years after he was given a ban.

In 2001 Nick Burchill was staying at the Fairmont Empress in Victoria, British Columbia, on a business trip with his new company.

He had bought a large amount of 'Brothers' Pepperoni' from his hometown in Nova Scotia for his friends in the Canadian Naval Reserve. 

He was to give it them after the business trip, but his hotel room at the Empress had no refrigerator... so where was he to store it?

Nick then had, what he thought was a great idea... leave it by an open window to keep cool. So that's what he did, before leaving the room to go for a walk. 

A few hours later he returned...

"I remember walking down the long hall and opening the door to my room to find an entire flock of seagulls in my room."

"I didn't have time to count, but there must have been 40 of them and they had been in my room, eating pepperoni for a long time.

"In case you were wondering, Brothers’ TNT Pepperoni does NASTY things to a seagull's digestive system.

"As you would expect, the room was covered in seagull crap. What I did not realise until then was that seagulls also drool. Especially when they eat pepperoni."

"I'm sure you have an image in your head.

"Now, remember that I have just walked into the room and startled all of these birds.

"They immediately started flying around and crashing into things as they desperately tried to leave the room through the small opening by which they had entered."

The seagulls went on to completely trash the hotel room...

"The result was a tornado of seagull excrement, feathers, pepperoni chunks and fairly large birds whipping around the room.

"The lamps were falling. The curtains were trashed. The coffee tray was just disgusting."

He eventually managed to clear the room of seagulls, aside from one particularly stubborn and big bird. So he threw his shoe at it. 

Nick's shoe missed and flew out of the window, startling some rather baffled tourists and landing in mud.

He needed the shoes for his meeting. Therefore, it needed to be cleaned!

In trying to clean and dry off the shoe, the hairdryer he was using fell into a sink full of water, causing a power outage.

It was then that Nick admitted defeat and called housekeeping for help.

"I can still remember the look on the lady's face when she opened the door."

"I had absolutely no idea what to tell her, so I just said 'I'm sorry' and I went to dinner."

It wasn't long before his company received a letter from the hotel saying that Nick was no longer welcome at the Empress.

It is a ban that Nick Birchall has respected for almost 18 years. However, in March he sent a letter to the hotel requesting his lifetime ban to be lifted and to consider "time served".

Along with the letter he also sent a pound of Brother's Pepperoni to help his cause, and upon receipt, the manager told Mr Burchill that he was now welcome to stay at the Empress again.

"After reviewing my application for a pardon with the Empress staff; Ryan, the manager has notified me verbally that I will once again be welcome as a guest."

Although it sounds an outlandish tale the hotel confirmed to the Times Colonist newspaper that it was all true, as remembered by long-serving staff. 

The director of public relations told the newspaper:

"It's one of those things where you can't make this stuff up."

Read Nick's full explanation of the experience below:

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