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Filtering Guests by Nationality / Age

General Hostel Operations

subaculture started this discussion 8 years 3 months ago

I am wondering as to the practice and legality of filtering guests.

- Can a Euopean hostel for example require guests to have a foreign passport, so as to filter out local guests who do not seek to socialize, but work, while seeking long term accomodation. I know this is quite common in Asia and America. Unsure as to whether its possible in Europe.

- Can I require those who wish to stay in a large dorms to be under 40 (cos of the usual issues of older guests not appreciating the level of noise and disruption they might face).

- Can I add a maximum length of stay (i.e five days). I dont want long term stayers/ people working locallly.

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Rucksack Brian

8 years

In practice, there are hostels who filter their guests based on those characteristics. Legally, there are restrictions on how you can do it.

You cannot discriminate based on nationality, so you may put yourself at risk by requiring a foreign passport. You CAN refuse guests who have a local address though. Nationality is protected, location of residence is not. The concern is really about people who live locally causing trouble in the hostel anyway, so this works well. It doesn’t really matter if they are from your country or not.

Applying age limits to dorms could be considered discrimination based on age, which is also illegal. Setting a minimum age limit (ex. no minors in dorms) probably won’t cause you problems because it is intended to protect children from potentially dangerous or inappropriate situations. Upper age limits would be a lot more difficult to defend in court. Plenty of hostels do it, but you should definitely consult your lawyer before stating that policy.

Minimum and maximum lengths of stay are entirely within your rights to establish. Even if you declare a maximum stay of 14 nights you could always make an exception for a particular guest. A lot of hostels use maximum stays to prevent long-term guests. It is also within your rights to refuse service to a guest (kick them out) if their behavior is inappropriate or goes against clearly stated expectations.

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jason_noronha

8 years

We have a passport policy at our hostels in that we require all guests to provide a passport at check-in (regardless of nationality). It is legal in India for hotels to dictate the form of ID that they accept for check-in and most locals who walk-in never carry their passports with them so it helps us filter our guests. However, more than the legal implications, its the handling of rejected guests that is a bigger problem. Sometimes, people cause a scene at the reception and the matter has to be handled delicately. There are definitely a lot of trade-offs with implementing this policy, so I guess it ultimately depends on how large a problem this is for you.

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DarrenOverby

8 years

Brian answered this question very well. I just wanted to add that in San Francisco, we state that proof of "traveler status" is required and this may include a passport and/or onward flight/train tickets. As our attorney explained, nationality is a protected class and therefore can not be used as the basis for discrimination. However, "traveler status" is not a protected class.

We also do not discriminate based on age, however readily inform all potential guests (young and old) what a hostel is about and explain that moderate amounts of "noise and disruption" may be a possibility. Depending on the questions and temperament of the potential guest we may tend to explain this more when we think the guest might be sensitive to "noise and disruption" but this determination is not based on their age.

Finally, we readily state that we are not a good option for non-travelers and "relocators". We remind them that we do not have the storage for the large amounts personal belongings and the noise from holiday-makers are not conducive to talking on the phone while looking for jobs and apartments.

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Josh Hostels

8 years

Can I require those who wish to stay in a large dorms to be under 40 (cos of the usual issues of older guests not appreciating the level of noise and disruption they might face).

For another example of a hostel that accommodates all ages in a great way see YH Plakias. Somehow it manages to host guests of all ages while allowing both "laid back" and "party" people to coexist well.

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subaculture

8 years

thanks guys.... a lawyer might help in setting the right filters that dont breach discrimiantion laws. Filtering by traveller/non-travellers seems difficult in Euope given open borders, and lack of requirement for passports.

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SilverSeagull

8 years

In Spain you have to scan passport or ID of each guest with the purpose to send this information to local Police. We even have a special add-on for our PMS to do it automatically.

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KBHH Jay

8 years

"We're FULL...! ! !"

...seems to work well...! ! !

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