Prostitute checked into our hotel!

[GrumpyL]

Ok, so away in London for a couple of days with DH and DD (10). We were staying in a 4* Hotel which is part of a large chain of hotels, not a small independent. We went to reception about 10.30 on the 2nd morning and was met with a lady (who was very obviously a prostitute) being told her room would be ready in 5 mins and her handing over £100 in cash to the receptionist. The hotel is £250+ a night and check in is 3pm!

AIBU to this this made the hotel feel a bit icky and sleazy after I saw that? Husband and I spoke briefly when DD wasn’t listening and he said “well they have to work somewhere!”. Not sure if I’m turning into a prude in my old age, but I really didn’t feel comfortable in the hotel after I saw that. I’m sure for her, it was a safe and comfortable place to work and I know this goes on in hotels, I suppose just seeing it in broad daylight shocked me a bit. We knew what she was there for, the receptionist knew what she was there for, the man behind us in the queue knew what she was there for, maybe I thought she and the hotel should have been a bit more discreet if they allow this to go on in their hotel, especially when it’s a family friendly hotel and there were a lot of children around?

It's laughable that this thread is still going. The counting £100 out in £10 notes just goes to show OP is a busy body!

Kendodd said prostitution should be illegal as well as soliciting
You said
Which of those things is currently legal ? neither of them are, you can’t make something more illegal etc etc

Yes, I realise that now - I was referring to the second paragraph in that post and I apologise if it was unclear.

The reason is that I have no idea how to edit or delete parts of quotes, despite being here for donkey's years

I just found out on another thread how to edit after being on MN for years.
So I know what you mean.

On the top right hand side of your post there are 3 small dots, click on these to edit. Another MN noted not all devices have this feature.

Why was my post deleted please?

So what?

I have no respect for or patience with the fact that my earlier post was deleted, MN HQ.

Sometimes nasty, antagonistic posts call for nasty and antagonistic responses. Maybe delete the original one which was clearly designed to cause upset and hurt to sex workers.

I also know personally of 'swerfs' being attacked, threatened, having offers of work withdrawn, in the same way as has happened to so-called 'terfs'. There is a legitimate debate to be had, and not all women involved in prostitition agree. But people should be aware of the wider agendas & remember the power dynamics.

To those saying that prostitution is rape: on Adultwork there are 16296 escorts in the UK. That's just one website. If each has had 10 clients that's 162960 rapists. Where are you going to imprison these men? The UK prison population is currently 95,526 and prisons are overcrowded as it is.

I fail to see how escorts are being raped if they have a profile on adultwork. This means they are consenting to sex from clients.

Only a small minority of profiles on adultwork are coerced/trafficked/pimped out/ whichever words you wish to choose. Independent escorts in general are not coerced into the job. Adultwork has a legal duty to close down profiles where it is clear they are being trafficked but it is run by AI bots and some profiles get overlooked in the scheme of things.

After flight. Often fly in transatlantic and book in to get some sleep before onward travel. Just because you don't you shouldn't assume others don't. It's quite common amongst those that travel often.

I agree with you. So many women seem to think that all escorts and all porn stars are raped and trafficked women. I just don't believe it. It also infantalises women - saying they're incapable of consenting to any type of sexual activity where they're being paid.
I remember a friend at uni who suggested to a bloke that he paid her for sex once a week. She absolutely was not being raoed. It was all her idea and she said it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. She didn't have a history of sexual abuse or low self esteem (quite the opposite). Some women are simply capable of deciding they want to make money through sex.

What dignity does the terminology confer that stamping out human trafficking wouldn’t ?. Do you think an underage girl forced to sell herself because she’s indebted in this way cares what you call her ? Do you think ‘they’ll always do it’ is a reason to just carry on regardless ?

Not saying all prostitution is rape. The point is that high levels of women are trafficked into it to repay their debts. And many prostitutes are hooked on drugs by their pimps. So ‘consent’ is the issue.

Do you think ‘they’ll always do it’ is a reason to just carry on regardless ?

What else do you suggest? Men hold virtually all the world’s power and most of its wealth. What do you think’s going to change? 🙄

If they are victims of trafficking and being forced into escort work, then they are not consenting are they ? They are not doing it of their own free will, so how can there be consent ? Not saying all prostitution is forced, or constitutes rape but you only have to google to see the figures and they’re not pretty. So using sanitising language designed to reduce the selling of sex to a commercial transaction not requiring critical thinking does them no favours does it ?

I’d like to think that women in general aren’t so much in favour of preserving the status quo as they appear to be on this thread. You’re eye rolling at women who actually do a bit of critical thinking and speak out against the abuse these women suffer and the whitewashing language that allows men to enable that abuse by presenting it as an acceptable financial transaction, then MN really has lost the plot.

You can Google and find figures to prove just about anything you want; most of them will be cobblers. As previously posted, trafficking and forced labour happens in virtually every other sector you can name and it's just as illegal regardless (as are all the other abuses mentioned including rape, sexual assault, false imprisonment and so on).

The difference is that nobody tries to outlaw farming on the basis that some farm workers are horribly exploited and abused. Those who would ban prostitution care as much about actual sex workers as the pro lifers who pop up on every abortion thread care about actual babies, ie not one single jot.

Spot on @SocksAndTheCity. It appears that “critical thinking” has only one opinion.

No, trafficking and forced labour do not happen in significant numbers in virtually every other sector. Dont be ridiculous. Its highly concentrated in particular sectors because of criminality & power dynamics. Its particularly concentrated in prostitution because both society & individual women do not see it as a normal job & most wen would not do it unless they were coerced into it by circumstance or literal firce from a pimp.Hence the problem with 'sex work'.

@SocksAndTheCity I personally know several women involved in helping women leave prostitution. They care deeply and put themselves in great danger. WTF are you talking about???

Forced labour is particularly concentrated in agriculture, construction, hospitality and the care industry, not sex work.

Then my comment was not addressed to you. Why are you answering it?

Yes it is concentrated in those sectors but there are many many other sectors in the UK economy so hardly 'virtually all sectors'. Well over 60% prostituted women are either trafficked or forced into prostitution due to drug dependency. If thats not a 'concentration' I dont know what is.

Research shows that less than 6 percent of migrant sex workers in the UK have been trafficked; many said they prefer working in the sex industry to the “unrewarding and sometimes exploitative conditions they meet in non-sexual jobs”.

https://decrimnow.org.uk/2023/12/15/our-response-to-the-hasc-trafficking-inquiry-report/

https://decrimnow.org.uk/the-facts/

Stars from the entertainment business often rent hotel rooms just for the daytime. They use them to give a series of interviews to the press and magazines. Bigger stars will take a suite and do the interviews there, lesser stars will do the interviews in a public area of the hotel and use the room to change and freshen up.

They use a room like this because they don't want journalists going to their homes (or the home of the friend they are staying with) or they may be staying in a different hotel under a false name and don't want it "leaking".