The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Hotels band together to keep out conmen

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Nov 16, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Hotels band together to keep out conmen

Staff Reporter

Security managers from 13 hotels agree to exchange information The forum will be used to prevent `skippers' from misusing hotel facilities

CHENNAI: What's plaguing deluxe hotels in the city? Well-groomed conmen who check in as guests, according to security personnel.

To keep a tab on these "guests" who frequent star hotels and commit burglaries, security managers from 13 of the establishments formally launched a forum on Tuesday.

"For the past one year we have been networking and sharing information in an informal manner," said D. Prosper, security manager with Taj Connemara. This was especially so after two men from Mumbai posed as guests and robbed other occupants of five city hotels last year.

"If we had shared the information, so many of us would not have been affected," recalled Mr. Prosper.

However, Mr. Prosper said he was able to prevent a person without any money on him from checking in recently. He was alerted by a fellow security manager from another city hotel where the person had "checked out" without footing the bill.

According to R. Samuel Moss, security manager with GRT Radisson, conmen would find it difficult to operate now that the forum is in place.

"We have created three zones, each consisting of six hotels or so. If there is any suspicious activity, we will mail or call up," he said.

The forum will be used to prevent `skippers' from misusing hotel facilities.

"Skippers are those who check in and ask us to send the bill to bogus companies. The guys are so well dressed and we have no way of checking their credentials ," said S. Prabhakaran of GRT Grand.

The forum would also be used to alert members about employees with dubious track records.

V. Vaikunth, former director general of police, inaugurated the forum and briefed security managers about precautionary arrangements ranging from installing closed circuit televisions to high-end jammers against wireless explosive devices.

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