Always on alert: Star Hotels give their best to put shady elements at bay
Star hotels these days are very careful when it comes to allowing ‘shady’ people
By : gayatri reddy
Update: 2014-09-01 23:31 GMT
Hyderabad: While the news of a National Award-winning actress arrested for soliciting at a star hotel on Sunday evening made the headlines, the frequency of these busts no longer raises eyebrows, neither does the fact that it is usually the star properties in town that are targeted for running these rackets. The big hotels are always on the receiving end when such incidents come to light, as nobody wants to stay at a place that attracts the wrong crowd.
Unfortunately, prostitution rackets being operated from star hotels is a common malaise.
No matter how stringent the checks are, hotels always end up allowing a few such “guests” as it’s impossible to make out what they are going to do in their rooms. Their screening process might not always be foolproof, but hotels do try their best to keep unwanted elements at bay.
The Radisson Blu in Hyderabad makes the most effort. Rohan Cholkar, director of sales and marketing, says their main agenda is to prevent any kind of child abuse on their property. “Staff is trained to keep their eyes open and are always on alert while checking areas like washrooms,” he says.
And when it comes to adults, Rohan says his security team is trained to spot unwanted elements. “These guys are not comfortable with giving identity proofs and their body language is different from regular guests.”
Rohan says these people are mostly spotted wearing sunglasses indoors, don’t like hotel staff coming up to them and are quite shifty. “Hotel security is very good at picking up these vibes and spotting such people,” he says, adding, “Apart from this, guests whose original booking states single occupancy, but is suddenly changed to double occupancy, are also scrutinised.”
Shruti Bist, the head of PR at Park Hyatt, says, “Apart from getting all the required details and identity proof from guests during check-in, the security team is always examining CCTV footage in the property. We follow the policies and procedures outlined by the organisation.”
Mamta Singh, who handles PR for all the Taj properties in Hyderabad, also says they are very careful about whom they allow to stay at their properties. “When a room reservation is made by an agent, we ask them for all the required credentials of the guest. If it’s a walk-in, the guest is screened at the reception and only then given a room.”
Mamta also says that the Taj Group is very pro-active with sharing data and always alerts other properties with details of troublesome and unwanted guests.
The PR of the hotel in which the actress was busted, says, “The actress was not staying with us. She was booked as a performer for an event that was taking place in the property. She will no longer be welcome at our hotel.”