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''the black list guests'' which shouldn't be allowed in the hostel

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Peter started this discussion 15 years 2 months ago

What if the hostels in the area or in the country , will make some black list of the guests names which have no right to enter the hostel because of past wrongdoings ?
For example , he was caught by stealing some thing , or he was sleeping illegally in the hostel , or he used to debouch in the hostel.
If some shady tourist stole some thing in one place , where is guarantee that he will not steal in another place ?
So , probably its a good idea for the hostel manager to report the name of the person to another hostel , not to accommodate him , because he is not trustworthy.
This sanction should exist for some period of time.
But if the theft is very damaging , like stealing the cameras or peoples valuables , then that tourist should be just banned forever.
Any ideas about it ?

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Josh Hostels

15 years

I don't know about other countries, but in the US I would hesitate to get involved with a guest blacklist because of possible lawsuits. (E.g., travelers wrongly put in the database who get their entire trips ruined because of it.)

Hotels may be doing it though:
http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2006-09-14-bad-guests_x.htm
http://blogs.usatoday.com/hotelhotsheet/2006/07/database_of_rud.html
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25243594/

Australia appears to have something like this:
https://www.guestsbehavingbadly.com.au/templates/gbb_hp1.aspx?pageID=335

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stozza

15 years

Yea, I always wanted to set up such a thing, and locally we have occasionally tried, but it always fails, because its not properly set up, just a mailing list that is eventually forgotten about.

Unfortunately, to do it properly would require a lawyer, as the Data Protection Laws are quite strong these days. And it would probably have to be hosted outside of Europe for European hostels.

We used to have signs up that told travelers we did that anyway, and if they messed up they would have trouble staying in any hostel in Europe, in the hope it would keep them in line. I doubt the bad people believed it, just the good ones.

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Josh Hostels

15 years

Unfortunately, to do it properly would require a lawyer, as the Data Protection Laws are quite strong these days.

Good point -- it would probably be a major headache to develop a project like this. Encrypted connections and data storage...

Would hostels pay for this service? (Someone would have to pay for lawyers, customer service, programming, and hosting.)
Would the cost of signing up discourage hostels from signing up? (No hostels signed up, no guests listed, no usefulness.)

Could abuse by hostel staff be prevented? I could picture bad hostel staff putting annoying (but not bannable) guests on the list out of spite.

The problems could be fixed, but if you show up in a foreign city at 10pm and are on the banned guest list, it's not going to be a good night...

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Peter

15 years

If some one used to sleep in the hostel illegally , that is not too big problem.
Especially if its some students from poor countries , who used to stay in the hostel before.
But if some commit a serious wrongdoing...
ok
If there is no such a black list
if some one would make some debouchery , drunk fightings or would steal some thing , then next time , I would tell him ; - sorry , I am fully booked !
And if he would not understand , then I would just say '' no free bed for you , sorry ''
and that's all !

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kokaneeboy

14 years

We have our own "blacklist" which ensures previous bad guests do not come back, but we dont share this with other hostels. Mostly the people on the list are locals; with serious drug problems or mental health issues. Rarely do we have problems with true backpacker travelers.

Our best defence against taking in unsavoury guests is giving reception staff the right to turn away any person they feel is bad news. That "gut feeling" that something is wrong with a person trying to check in is usually right.

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Josh Hostels

14 years

We have our own "blacklist" which ensures previous bad guests do not come back, but we dont share this with other hostels. Mostly the people on the list are locals; with serious drug problems or mental health issues. Rarely do we have problems with true backpacker travelers.

Those lists were invaluable in one city hostel I worked at. This is what would happen without the list:

The shady traveler tries to check in. Gets turned away.
The shady traveler returns on the evening or night shift to try again with different employees, usually with better results :)

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Aquarium_Rescue_Unit

14 years

What if the hostels in the area or in the country , will make some black list of the guests names which have no right to enter the hostel because of past wrongdoings ?
For example , he was caught by stealing some thing , or he was sleeping illegally in the hostel , or he used to debouch in the hostel.
If some shady tourist stole some thing in one place , where is guarantee that he will not steal in another place ?
So , probably its a good idea for the hostel manager to report the name of the person to another hostel , not to accommodate him , because he is not trustworthy.
This sanction should exist for some period of time.
But if the theft is very damaging , like stealing the cameras or peoples valuables , then that tourist should be just banned forever.
Any ideas about it ?

This already exists wherever I have been- there are also websites like BBH.CO.NZ etc in different countried which have a communal emailing system for all the hostels which helps track down people who have not paid, have stolen things, lost things, gone missing etc etc it is immediate and alerts everybody immediately to threat- it's also a damned good read! Some of the stuff that you hear about is just unbelieveable!

We also get calls and emails where I am now, but not as effective a system as when I was working in many differnt bbh hostels in NZ.

In places the size of the one where I work now it's very hard to police such a thing- we take photo id numbers and things, also.

Another problem is when there are a number of people working in the office(especially those with little or no previosu experience) and their ability to relay messages etc.

Anyhoo, if you don't have this system then I definitely reccommend setting one up- have a peek at bbh too.

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blyth backpacke...

11 years

someone staying a extra night without paying is not a big deal to me, but i would sooner find them a spot but steeling from the hostel or guests must be blacklisted we have cam.(S) everywhere so we know who is in the hostel and record everything and tell all guests and staff the recordings are often given to the police. We watch all customers very closely.we provide a safe with recorded cam on it 3 weeks continuous

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gordo

11 years

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