Children being raped and abused in hotels,

[Imnobody4]

I can't take much more of this.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cre8n7wr31jo?s=09
Police have received hundreds of reports of child sexual abuse in high street hotel chains, data shared exclusively with BBC News shows.Of the 504 offences recorded in hotels in 2023, 92% (464) involved physical contact with a child, while 40% (203) were recorded as rape.The figures, provided by the National Police Chief's Council (NPCC), reveal where specific hotels were recorded most were budget chain hotels.Offences in hotels made up less than 1% of the total number of recorded sexual crimes against children in England and Wales in 2023. However, police say the crime is under reported and the real figures are likely to be higher.

Thanks for the link. I heard the report but then couldn't find anything.

I hope that more hotel staff feel able to act on what they probably instinctively know if a bad situation.

And if, as the online report I heard is right, that police will act if informed by a hotel receptionist that an underage girl has checked into a hotel room and the police respond that is good.

Lets hope hotel chains give their staff clear guidance and support so they can have no worries about doing this.

Yes, I think really good guidance is important.

It's very difficult when put on the spot to know what to do about a situation that you suspect may be something wrong, but where you simply don't really know. Especially as a lower level employee.

Employees, especially young low level ones, find it much easier if they have a good idea what the process will be, signs to look for, and also that if they are wrong, neither they nor others will experience negative consequences from that - including the person reported.

Heard some coverage on radio 4. It does sound like educating and empowering staff may reduce opportunities for this awful harm.

You can help, too.

https://traffickcam.com/

My Dd worked for Travelodge and they had specific training to be able to spot things like this. I don't know if all hotels do it but if not they should.

No doubt some of the children will be in local authority care, as is the case with grooming gangs.

I'm afraid hotel staff are already in that damned-if-they-do etc position that social workers are often in when it comes to child protection.

There was a case in 2018 of a hotel receptionist notifying the police when a man brought an underage girl to the double room he had booked. The police came to the hotel, interviewed the man and girl separately, and confirmed that the child was his daughter and there was nothing untoward happening.

Cue tabloid outrage e.g.
Dad branded 'paedo' by Travelodge for visiting sick mum with his daughter Daily Star* *18 Feb 2018

plus many other 'outrage'-type articles.

This is a problem for fathers travelling with young children - if they are not challenged, the hotel isn't doing what it should do, but when they are challenged like this, it must be a nasty experience
.
Perhaps this report about the extent of child abuse happening in hotels will prepare fathers for the fact that in order to expose the guilty ones and protect other fathers' children, innocent fathers may have to face this unwelcome scrutiny.

It is also disturbing that there may be no staff on duty.

Many budget hotels also have self-service kiosks rather than manned reception desks, allowing perpetrators to check-in with young people without any questions being asked, police chiefs say.

I work in safeguarding and we did an experiment in conjunction with the police where a 15 year old girl and 40 year old man tried to check into a double room together at various hotels so see how many would query it.
Several chains involved, very few questioned them.

What the hell is wrong with men?
I know, I know...NAMALT, but bloody hell, it's relentless isn't it?

So disturbing.

There was a thread on here about it at the time, lots of posters saying it was discrimination against men/fathers, it is very unlikely that wonen would be questioned if they checked in with a teenager, so unfair, yada yada, well men and women are not the fucking same! And if extra checks are needed for men to help protect children boo fucking hoo.

The report I watched said they were likely to pay with cash to prevent giving real details to the hotels.

Its also another reminder that often those at the bottom of the employment chain are often put in a position of decision making which is beyond (not them as individuals) but their authority.

Even if, for example, a regulation was bought to show that a young girl really was a daughter (not forgetting how many girls are abused by their biological or step father), many customers would kick up a fuss.

Its the same as asking delivery drivers to take on checking the age of someone they are delivering a knife to.

And as I have seen too often, supermarket staff suddently meant to be trained in how to restrain a violent person. Can often become really nasty.

I once stayed in a budget hotel where there was no night staff and it was taken over by prostitutes at night.
There was just a key code to get in after 8pm and in the morning a coach arrived with around 30 young women and they were all stood shivering in thin clothes in the car park, I couldn't wait to leave.
I think it will be certain corrupted hotels who have lost control of their security.

That sounds really upsetting to experience, and really disturbing.

But also another example of whether because of police indifference or lack of funding, criminality can take place in plain sight.