HOTELIERS: PLEASE STOP HELPING CRIMINALS! By Shawn A. Turner Finance Editor Shawn@HotelNewsNow A man walks up to the front desk of a hotel and tells the front-desk staff he’s lost his room key. The staff asks him to confirm his age and birth date, which he does, and he is given a new key. Sometime later, the man phones the front desk, this time saying he forgot the password of his safe and requires assistance in getting it unlocked. Happy to be of service, the staff arrives at the room to help the slippers-clad man unlock the safe. Given that we here at Hotel News Now don’t make a habit of writing stories about mundane guest/front-desk interactions, you’ve probably guessed that there’s more to the story. And there is. The problem with what I’ve described above is that the guest in need of assistance was in fact, not a guest at all, but a thief, according to a report in the South China Morning Post. After the helpful Peninsula hotel staff left, the alleged perpetrator helped himself to £3,000 ($4,536), a laptop and several bank cards. He then, as I like to picture it in my mind, went skipping and whistling into the warm Hong Kong night. How did this man pull off a feat of such cunning cat burglary? Police haven’t disclosed his modus operandi just yet but personal privacy and hotels don’t necessarily go hand in hand. Personal data is virtually flying through the air at least in one hotel. Heck, I bet the toughest part for the crook was refraining from cackling like a madman while the hotel staff broke into the safe for him. Hoteliers, be honest with yourselves: When confronted with the above situation, how many of your staff members would have reacted in the exact same way that the Peninsula’s staff did? I’m betting quite a few. Hoteliers focus so much on being at the guest’s service that they can forget there are times when it is appropriate to be skeptical, especially when grand larceny is at stake. Asking for proper identification from a guest shouldn’t be perceived as haggling them. In fact, I’d say most guests who have even the faintest spark of intelligence would appreciate the fact that the hotel is doing all it can to prevent him or her from being the subject of a blog on HNN. And those who are upset that you’re asking them to properly identify themselves? Well, they’re probably the sort who’d prefer to not be identified at all.
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 19:09:57 +0000
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