This could be the message to certain problematic guests as Dubai hotels discuss sharing a 'blacklist'. This could be the message to certain problematic guests as Dubai hotels discuss sharing a 'blacklist'.

Hotels across Dubai may be on the verge of establishing a shared database of guest profiles, highlighting difficult clients and guests who have been banned or blacklisted.
 
InterContinental club manager Eva Schwietert suggested the initiative at a recent roundtable of executive lounge and guest relations managers from Dubai’s top hotels.

“If we have a difficult guest here, fair enough it might be a one-off event, but there’s a chance he’s also done the same thing at Raffles, or at Fairmont,” Schwietert explained.

“To get that kind of information from each other would be useful.”

Representatives from Fairmont, Raffles, Hyatt Regency and Emirates Towers agreed, with each taking a hard-line approach to difficult or abusive guests.
 
“We have clearly stated on our website that people have been blacklisted for inappropriate behaviour and these guests cannot come back to the Hyatt, anywhere in the world,” said Hyatt Regency club manager Marshneil Bhardwaj. 

“We are very strict; we have incidents where they do try to check in again and we have security there to intervene.”

The most common problem with guests, according to the managers, was verbal abuse towards staff, particularly waiters and bartenders.

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Raffles Dubai front office supervisor Pascale Bou Moussa said Raffles had also faced problems with attempted theft and international scammers during its first six months.

Other issues included refusal to pay, inviting excess guests to the hotel; and disorderly behaviour.

Emirates Towers guest relations manager Anne Roumajon explained that she had faced problems with drunk guests in the past — some more memorable than others.

“One guest was a complete alcoholic; he was walking around in his underwear and we found him in another room, sleeping on the bed,” Roumajon said.
 
“We got the suite back in a state — he’d been writing notes on the walls, he broke a glass window in the bathroom.

“We couldn’t handle him anymore, it was impossible.”



For full coverage of the roundtable, see next month’s issue of Hotelier Middle East magazine.