Staying one step ahead of the guest from hell

Surrealist (and animal lover) Salvador Dali horrified hoteliers in Paris when, in the mid-1900s, he demanded they herd a flock of bleating sheep up the stairs to his room in the city's chic hotel, Le Meurice. On another occasion, his order for room service required that a horse be trotted into his suite in the hotel. It is not clear what the artist did with the sheep and horse, and his oddball behaviour was not limited to livestock.

Dali regularly booked into the hotel accompanied by his two pet ocelots. Originating in the jungles of South America, the ocelot is a particularly fierce wild cat that weighs up to 16kg. Left to their own feral devices in the plush Suite Royal of Le Meurice — and clearly committed to keeping their claws razor-sharp — the cats shredded the floors, walls and furniture of the hotel as if ripping through the rain forests of their birth.

Although South African hotels, guest houses, resorts and home rental agencies probably do not expect to open their establishments to herds of farm animals or a couple of wild cats during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, there is some apprehension over the unprecedented influx of soccer fans and the security and protection of property.

No protection

For many in the local hospitality industry, there has been no way of protecting their businesses from guests who behave improperly, default on payment, destroy or damage property, steal goods or use establishments for illegal activities.

This was noted earlier this year by Cape Town entrepreneur, Cindy Steenkamp and her business partner Joseph Brooks, whose web application and design company, Solnetech Internet Technology Solutions, lists numerous hospitality businesses among its clients.

“The hospitality industry is essentially a soft target for abuse,” says Steenkamp. “Time and time again clients who run hotels, guest houses, bed and breakfasts, and even spas bemoaned the fact that there was no central system to help protect them from guests who misbehave in their establishments and who are, it regularly emerges, likely to repeat their unacceptable behaviour at the next place they book into.”

With the World Cup imminent, she and Brooks realised that South African homeowners who plan to rent their homes out during the event would also benefit from having access to alerts about potential misconduct by guests.

On guard

This led to the development by Solnetech of GuestAlert, which is a web-based application that allows participating establishments to register the identity and/or passport numbers of guests who have behaved badly, damaged property, failed payment or performed illegal activities on the premises. The database is available to all other establishments that subscribe to the service, providing them with an online checkpoint to refer to when processing bookings.

The system was launched little over a month ago and already more than 200 establishments have subscribed to its watchdog service. More than 700 delinquent guests have been listed to date.

The response to the product from the hospitality industry has been encouraging. Apart from the 40-million soccer fans expected next year, Steenkamp points out that the service is equally appropriate for the millions of international tourists who visit SA each year and the even more domestic tourists who spend their annual holidays in and around the country.

Ongoing value

“While we expect the system to be particularly effective during the World Cup with the increased number of tourists to SA, there is no doubt also of its ongoing value both before and after the event,” says Steenkamp. “Although some of the larger hotel chains use the legacy system that enables them to record bad guest behaviour for internal use, it is the first time many establishments have had access to such a broad based service, which probably accounts for some of the positive response to GuestAlert.”

Targeting the short-term home rental market, Solnetech has partnered 2010 Property Rentals, an agency that specialises in the rental of private properties during the World Cup.

“We are aware that GuestAlert will be most effective with as many subscribers as possible so we are targeting all areas of accommodation simultaneously,” she explains.

Information on badly behaved guests is uploaded on the GuestAlert site by those subscribers who experience negative behaviour of individuals or parties of guests first hand. These details are only available to the community of accommodation providers that subscribe to the service.

Profile privacy

“It is important to note that the list of deviant guests is not an open domain,” stresses Steenkamp. “Subscribers ... have been verified as legitimate providers of accommodation. Moreover, we highlight ... that guest profiles do not extend beyond identity or passport numbers and a description of the wayward behaviour. We do not accompany profiles ... with photographs or any other information that could contravene privacy laws. The system also allows users to clear guests where discrepancies arise.”

GuestAlert, she says, is uncomplicated and easy to use. Relevant businesses apply for registration online. Once their details have been verified, subscribers receive notification of their service activation at a minimal monthly fee of R89 per month per user. Thereafter, they simply access the site and enter the identification or passport numbers of guests wishing to reserve accommodation to see if they are listed as offensive guests. Details of badly behaved guests are also easily loaded on the system online.

List defrauders, not complainers

Steenkamp and Brooks are aware that keeping a database on guests could be seen to contradict the true nature of the hospitality business, which is, after all, about the helpful reception and care of guests, no questions asked.

“That is why we stress that GuestAlert is not about being suspicious and confrontational,” she says.

“The system is not a way of surreptitiously collecting information on guests or using the threat of blacklisting to justify bad service. It is absolutely not a place to list guests who complain or who are difficult characters. It is not designed so that subscribers can screen guests according to their character. GuestAlert clearly defines the kind of guest who should be reported on and this definition is in keeping with the business owner's right to avoid fraud and damage.”

It is not, Steenkamp says, designed to monitor or censure behaviour or to police it. Instead it is developed to help reveal the distinct intention by guests to defraud and/or damage properties, and to track and prevent a pattern of doing so or trying to do so between one establishment and another.

Additional services

That being said, subscribers to GuestAlert do have access to an additional service, called G-Alert, which allows them to record suspected criminal behaviour in and around their establishments.

“The anonymity of hotels, guest houses and the like can lend itself to criminal behaviour and so we have added a service that allows subscribers to, in addition to reporting what they observe to the police, record suspected criminal behaviour online,” says Steenkamp.

For more information, see: www.guestalert.co.za

Source: Business Day

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