Welcome to Hotel Sharia: No More Bacon or Booze as Trendy Venue Bought Out by a Muslim Multi-millionaire

MAIL ONLINE: Strict Islamic policy is imposed at London's Bermondsey Square Hotel / Bar and grill at hotel previously run by Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace / New Middle Eastern owner wants to run it 'in accordance with Sharia law' / Drinkers were offered only non-alcoholic beer and elderflower cordial / Diners denied dishes that used traces of alcohol such as beer-battered fish / Nearby restaurants said they saw a surge in business when customers walked out of the hotel’s grill on Tuesday

An exclusive hotel has banned alcohol and pork after being taken over by a Middle Eastern businessman who wants to run it ‘in accordance with Sharia law’.

The strict Islamic policy was imposed without warning this week at London’s Bermondsey Square Hotel – where the bar and grill was previously run by Masterchef judge Gregg Wallace.

Staff said the new rules were swiftly implemented on Tuesday on the orders of the new Muslim owner, forcing waiters to tell disgruntled guests that much of the menu was no longer available.

Diners were denied dishes that used only traces of alcohol – such as beer-battered fish, a pudding with ‘drunken cherries’ and rum ice cream. Drinkers were offered only non-alcoholic beer and elderflower cordial.

Forced to improvise, chefs are now trying to source chicken and beef sausages instead of pork varieties for breakfast and have replaced the popular hog roast with rabbit terrine.

The £220-a-night hotel is believed to be one of the first in the country to introduce the strict Muslim policy but staff say the changes have caused business to plummet, with many reservations cancelled. » | Tom Kelly and Emily Kent Smith for The Daily Mail | Friday, November 14, 2014

New York Maids Demand to Be Heard as They Dish the Dirt on Hotel Life

THE GUARDIAN: The Dominique Strauss-Kahn case casts a spotlight on workers who face abuse, lechery and filth

The life of a hotel maid is not an easy one, with naked men flaunting their wares, verbal abuse, lecherous suggestions and personal hygiene standards that would shame a chimp. But thanks to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, things may be about to improve.

There are more than 10,000 hotel maids – or room attendants as they prefer to be called – in New York City. An invisible army of cleaners working for $24 (£15) an hour (if they have a union job), they rarely hit the headlines.

But their work was thrust into the spotlight after the alleged attack by theformer head of the International Monetary Fund on one of their number in room 2806 of the Times Square Sofitel last month.

Politicians are calling for security checks, more cases of abuse are coming out into the open and the voices of the maids themselves are being heard.

This week, as Strauss-Kahn, hand in hand with his millionaire wife, made his way to court to plead not guilty to the charges against him, a group of maids chanted "shame, shame" to make the news around the world.

They intend to be there again when the trial begins but, in the meantime, they hope their employers and customers are learning something about what it means to be a maid in Manhattan. » | Dominic Rushe in New York | Friday, June 10, 2011

Gay Hotels Investigated for Breaching Equality Laws
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Hotels that only accept homosexuals are being investigated by a government-funded watchdog for discriminating against heterosexual couples.

The Equality and Human Rights Commission is examining whether "gay-only" guesthouses breach new laws designed to prevent people being treated unfairly in the provision of goods or services.

Last month, Christian owners of a guesthouse in Cornwall became the first to be found guilty of discrimination under equality laws after they refused to let a homosexual couple stay in a double room, in a legal action supported by the EHRC.

Now, the watchdog says it must establish an "objective balance" by considering if gays-only accommodation also defies the legislation.

Its lawyers are now investigating the issue and the EHRC says it has not ruled out taking legal action against "gay-only" hotels if they are deemed to be discriminating against heterosexuals.

However, it admits that it has not received a single complaint from the public about such establishments. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Sunday, February 20, 2011

A Bedbug Epidemic Bites New York
TIMES ONLINE: An epidemic of bedbugs in the Big Apple has brought panic, revulsion and a nasty little rash to rich and poor alike. Can the city cope

Photograph: Times Online
At first May thought that her husband had heat rash. “We were staying at a smart hotel in Cape Cod. Then I developed these hive-like welts on my back and legs.” May (not her real name; she is terrified of giving me that) is middle class, in her late fifties and lives on the Upper West Side, New York, in a well-maintained four-room apartment. When she and her husband returned to the city, one doctor prescribed antihistamines, surmising the couple had reacted to shellfish. She called a dermatologist. “He took one look and said, ‘You both have bedbug bites’. My husband turned our mattress over and we saw them. That’s when — no joke, no exaggeration, however ridiculous it may sound — our nightmare began.”

The infestation would last five months and cost May and her husband $15,000 (£10,200) to treat.

The cockroach has scuttled in retreat. Bedbugs have become New York, indeed America’s, latest bug noire. These tiny, yellowish creatures (which grow to 4-5mm long), fiendishly difficult to eradicate and understand, have become an obsession for landlords, renters, pest-control experts and scientists. Why do they feed so hungrily on human blood? Why have they proliferated? Why are they so hardy? How can you eradicate them?

“Don’t let the bedbugs bite” now has a particularly hollow ring to it: we are almost powerless to stop them. There has been a 71 per cent increase in bedbug infestations since 2001, according to the US National Pest Management Association. In 2004, there were a reported 537 complaints and 82 “violations” (verified infestations) for bedbugs in New York; in 2009, there were 10,985 complaints and 4,084 verified infestations. “That’s just the reported cases,” says Jeremy Ecker, of Bed Bug Inspectors, a firm that uses two specially trained dogs to sniff out the bugs in apartments before advising occupants and pest exterminators on the best action. “The problem is everywhere, it’s growing and it’s mostly invisible because of people’s embarrassment. People are too ashamed to say anything. If they admit to having bedbugs they’re frightened of losing their apartment, of being asked not to go into work, of getting rid of their possessions. We see people in extreme distress.” >>> Tim Teeman | Monday, May 31, 2010

The Bedbug Registry >>>

Chris Grayling: Christian B&Bs Should Be Able to Turn Away Gay Couples
THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Bed and breakfasts run by Christians should be allowed to turn away gay couples because of their sexuality, a leading Conservative has said.

Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling said Christian B&Bs should be able to turn away gay couples. Photograph: The Sunday Telegraph
Chris Grayling, the shadow home secretary, said hotels should not be allowed to discriminate against homosexuals, but also suggested individuals should have the right to decide who stays in their home.

The comments to a meeting of the Centre for Policy Studies thinktank sparked anger among gay rights activists and may prove embarrassing to Conservative leader David Cameron, who has made great play of his party's increased openness to homosexuals.

After a recording of his comments was published in The Observer Mr Grayling said he was not opposed to gay rights and would not be pressing for a change in the law, but felt it was important to respect the sensitivities of faith groups.

The row comes shortly after a B&B owner in Cookham, Berkshire, was reported to the police for refusing to take in a gay couple as guests on the grounds it was against her Christian principles.

The recording of the meeting on Wednesday shows Mr Grayling said: "I think we need to allow people to have their own consciences. >>> | Easter Sunday, April 04, 2010

Secret Tape Reveals Tory Backing for Ban on Gays
THE GUARDIAN: B&Bs 'should have right to bar gays' / Exclusion would violate law – Labour

The Tories were embroiled in a furious row over lesbian and gay rightson Saturday after the shadow home secretary, Chris Grayling, was secretly taped suggesting that people who ran bed and breakfasts in their homes should "have the right" to turn away homosexual couples.

The comments, made by Grayling last week to a leading centre-right thinktank, drew an angry response from gay groups and other parties, which said they were evidence that senior figures in David Cameron's party still tolerate prejudice.

In a recording of the meeting of the Centre for Policy Studies, obtained by the Observer, Grayling makes clear he has always believed that those who run B&Bs should be free to turn away guests.

"I think we need to allow people to have their own consciences," he said. "I personally always took the view that, if you look at the case of should a Christian hotel owner have the right to exclude a gay couple from a hotel, I took the view that if it's a question of somebody who's doing a B&B in their own home, that individual should have the right to decide who does and who doesn't come into their own home."

He draws a distinction, however, with hotels, which he says should admit gay couples. "If they are running a hotel on the high street, I really don't think that it is right in this day and age that a gay couple should walk into a hotel and be turned away because they are a gay couple, and I think that is where the dividing line comes."

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of the gay rights group Stonewall, said the comments would be "very alarming to a lot of gay people who may have been thinking of voting Conservative". >>> Toby Helm, political editor | Saturday, April 03, 2010

Christian Hoteliers Received Violent Threats over Muslim Guest 'Insult'
THE TELEGRAPH: Christian hoteliers Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang received hate mail after they were accused of insulting a Muslim guest because of her faith.

The Vogelenzangs have five adopted children, including one who is a Muslim. Photograph: The Telegraph
The couple said they have been "living a nightmare" since they were charged in July with a "religiously-aggravated" offence of causing harassment, alarm or distress.

In an interview with The Sunday Telegraph, the couple have told of their relief at being cleared of insulting Ericka Tazi, a Muslim woman who was staying at their hotel.

They said that they had suffered emotionally and financially since the prosecution began, received threats warning they would be attacked and nearly lost their business due to an 80 per cent decline in takings at their nine-bedroom hotel, the Bounty House in Aintree, Liverpool.

"The last nine months have been a nightmare for us," said Mr Vogelenzang.

"We've been drained emotionally and financially. We have, sadly, received some threats and hate mail. That has been upsetting.
"Our business has almost been destroyed."

Mrs Tazi, who converted to Islam 18 months ago, stayed at the couple's hotel in March. She claimed they asked her if she was a murderer and a terrorist after seeing her wearing a hijab. She also alleged that Mr Vogelenzang called the Prophet Muhammad a murderer and a warlord and likened him to Saddam Hussein and Hitler.

The hotel had been reliant for much of its business on a local hospital, which routinely referred outpatients to stay, but hospital chiefs put a stop to this once they heard about the court case. >>> Jonathan Wynne-Jones, Religious Affairs Correspondent | Saturday, December 12, 2009

MAIL ONLINE: 'Our faith is being targeted .... and we've been thrown to the lions': the Christian hoteliers accused of insulting Muslim guest reveal >>> Jonathan Petre and Andrew Chapman | Saturday, December 12, 2009

Japan: Love Hotels
Watch Journeyman Pictures video here | Tuesday, April 08, 2008

'No Jews' Policy Employed at Austria Hotel
HAARETZ: A hotel in the Austrian region of Tyrol that said it does not accept Jewish guests has caused shock in the local media and tourism industry, the daily Tiroler Tageszeitung reported Sunday.

A Vienna family of seven had had tried to make a reservation at the Haus Sonnenhof apartment hotel in the village of Serfaus, but the owner replied by e-mail that although the room was free, she did not want to take in Jewish guests because of "bad experiences" in the past. >>> By DPA | Sunday, May 10, 2009

A Hotel “for Lesbians”?
THE INDEPENDENT: For a country that goes to such great lengths to segregate unrelated men and women, it took Saudi Arabia a long time to hit on the idea of women-only hotels.

The kingdom's first hotel exclusively for females opened yesterday, offering plush lodgings with a full-range of health and beauty facilities for ladies to pamper themselves, away from the accusing eyes of a male-dominated society.

"Inside this physical structure, we are all women," said the Luthan Hotel's executive director Lorraine Coutinho. "We even have bell-women. We are women-owned, women-managed and women-run, from our IT engineer to our electrical engineer.

"This is meeting a very big demand. There are women's hotels all over the world, from Berlin to the United States."

Saudi Arabia is one of the most conservative countries in the world, where women are prevented from meeting male friends in public, driving cars or taking up employment in many jobs. New rules announced in January allow women to stay in standard mixed-gender hotels without a male family member in tow, but bureaucracy and conservative family values mean few have been able to make use of their new-found freedom. Saudi Arabia opens its first women-only hotel >>> By Andrew Hammond in Riyadh
| Thursday, 20 March 2008

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Saudi Arabia Eases Laws on Solo Women
BBC: The authorities in Saudi Arabia have decided to end a ban on unaccompanied women staying in the country's hotels.

A woman can now stay in a hotel alone as long as she carries identification.

Based on a royal decree, the move marks a break from religious codes requiring women to be accompanied by a male guardian at all times.

The decree allowed the Ministry of Trade to outline new regulations simply requiring women to show photographic ID to hotel managers.

This must then be registered with local police.

The decision was reported by the local daily al-Watan newspaper, which is considered close to the Saudi government, on Monday. S Arabia eases laws on solo women >>>

THE TELEGRAPH:
Saudi Arabia to lift ban on women drivers

BBC:
Senior Saudi royal demands reform

BBC:
Campaign for release of Saudi blogger

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)