My goodness, if this isn’t the ultimate case of getting ”Bonvoyed” by Marriott, then I don’t know what is.
Continue reading: Ugh: Ritz-Carlton Guest Safety Complaint Leads To Detention & Deportation
Share your questions, experiences, and thoughts below.
I just wonder….
Free speech, equal rights for men and women and an independent justice,
are mot what xou should expect to get in a country that is basically a dictatorship which has a system which put foreign workers just one step above slaves…
There is a reason you will never catch me flying any of those gulf airlines or making holiday there.
This guy is obviously not the brightest, he’s being persecuted by Qatari authorities and yet he continues to travel there as if nothing has happened? Stay the heck out of Qatar!
The entire incident was also blown out of proportion. The wife was apparently not threatened at any point unless I missed that part. These two guys approached her with lewd and disgusting comments (who knows how much of that is true) and the guy tried to escalate up to the point where he broke the local (stupid) law.
"Who knows if this is true." Well the general manager initially acknowledged it so ...
I suppose they were lucky they weren't a gay couple. Still, as long as their flag carrier has a good F/J product, then nothing to worry about.
Stop supporting this shithole country with its shithole government by flying with the state-owned air carrier.
"Security staff are instructed not to intervene and the hotel management conspire with police to allow men to treat women as they wish"
This part does sound like defamation. He has proof security is told not to intervene? He has proof the hotel conspires with police to harass women? Stupid way to report a problem, especially someone who has lived in the Middle East for as long as he has.
Beyond bonvoyed there is a term called qatarted, used locally. So they got both. This is the biggest risk of travelling to these countries. In most cases it is fine but when things go wrong you have no mercy at all, they can do whatever they want without any due process...it is like pre Bill of Rights of England in 1689.... don't offend the ego of influential people in these countries
How quickly everyone forgot about the 2020 case in Qatar where numerous female passengers on a Qantas flight were FORCED to submit to sexual violation by airport authorities.
But, hey, as long as QR has a nice J product then all is cool right Ben?
I think you omit to mention to the most important thing from the Telegraph article, which is that the men "looked Qatari".
Everyone knows that, as a foreigner, you don't upset the wrong local. How naive is Craig that he didn't understand this rule?
This also explains the behaviour of the hotel manager. It fits the original story, of wanting to take things seriously through good customer service, and the later turnaround.
I suspect this entire process, including the later stages where they were sued for defamation, was driven more by the two men than the couple assume. While hindsight is everything, I honestly think I would have quietly left.
To start, Qatar is not a country with the best due process and the hotel likely went too far, but that review is not something someone should post in a country like that, especially someone who regularly works in Qatar and should know better. For some reason I have a feeling that this might be one of those people who, prior to the incident, probably knew about the multi-class due process system there but didn't care because they thought they were one of the "in" groups.
I'm going to go out on a limb and say that in Qatari defamation cases, the proof is on the person making the accusation (similar to Britain) and a lot of this stuff he likely wouldn't have any sort of evidence of:
“Not safe for western women. Local predators are allowed to harass guests with impunity." Probably harmless enough and has enough in the text messages to support it that nothing would have happened.
"Security staff are instructed not to intervene and the hotel management conspire with police to allow men to treat women as they wish." I'm going to assume that the person has absolutely nothing to support either of these and assuming that is true, the person didn't just defame the hotel, they defamed the police. That's a huge no-no in a country like this.
Exactly, it's hard to feel any sympathy for someone who actually works in that country yet is so silly/culturally insensitive as to frame his complaint in such terms.
Never forget the nature of these people. These people the embodiment of evil. They should be glad that they managed to get out and learn a lesson about what these people are. Bad news is they’re back in the UK where there’s even more of them and a government who refuses to do anything about them lol
You all in the points/miles influencer/blog work love to review properties in these countries, but the reality is they are terrible places.
Yup, Craig is a muppet for posting that exact review. Better ways to describe what happened to his wife, while still warning other visitors that this might happen to them too.
I suspect the men were "locally connected" and security footage possibly did conveniently disappear later that day. Being allowed back again around the pool a couple of days later points in this direction too.
I am a single, professional (non-Western) woman in the Gulf with more than a decade of experience in the region. Also, I stayed at this particular hotel about 3-4 times as a solo traveler (before and after renovation), so I feel familiar with the pool setting in the pic. Well... to be honest, for some complex reason which I can't elaborate on here, I don't have much empathy for this British couple at all. Hope they got a lesson this time, not messing around in the Gulf any longer.
How would the GM know what was said? He wasn’t there. He said the guests were told to leave the property, maybe they were and they came back two days later.
"These countries"? "Shithole"?
One person behaved appallingly, in response to one other person behaving aggressively, after two other people terrified his wife. I'll certainly steer clear of the St Regis Bar Harbour.
Something really bad happened to a person somewhere. It doesn't mean that one is at significant risk in Qatar. I'm not going to wear my pink gayboy speedo at the pool in Doha; I wonder what the woman was wearing. Now am I "victim shaming"? When in Rome...
"I told you so, I would never fly/go" and "these countries" are a bad look. It's certainly not competent risk assessment, never mind the overt bigotry.
Or he was trapped when his wife demanded action, because of how men "made me feel" by the pool.
The reason you won't see me flying them anytime soon is... the drones and missiles and war.
You do you, though. I won't 'yuck' your 'yum' on here... *wink*
I dont know why anyone would go to a Muslim country. You have no rights, no due process. Heck remember when they lied at the last world cup and said they were going to have alcohol zones and the day before rhey said just kidding and renigged.
But the review was defamation, right? Nothing in your summary or the article demonstrates proof that the hotel management conspired with police or that security staff have been instructed not to intervene. The guy has been working in Qatar for how long and he thought that writing that review was a good idea when it seems pretty clear that Qatari nationals were involved? At the very least this is a good reminder that other countries often do not operate under the rule of law, at least not how it’s understood in the West.
"Well... to be honest, for some complex reason which I can't elaborate on here..."
So you're blaming the alleged victim with absolutely no elaboration or explanation. "Hope they got a lesson..." is pretty disgusting in light of what Sarah claims is correct, and we've no reason to think it isn't.
"At the very least this is a good reminder that other countries often do not operate under the rule of law, at least not how it’s understood in the West."
The USA is a good example of this at the moment.
Not like Qatar will be enjoying many guests going forward anyway.
Given the yookay government's decade long propensity to import men of this character and have them sexually harass (and grape) millions of British schoolgirls, I'm not sure what Craig thought they would do.
So, the summary is:
1. Some countries have unjust legal systems. Don't travel there.
2. Always post online reviews with a fake name.
Thank you for featuring our story. Whilst a small number of the comments are ill-informed and offensive, we would rather that than continue to remain silent about Marriot’s choice to prosecute me rather than support us.
Another comment that lands with a thud, o racist LuftNazi.
"Millions of British schoolgirls." That's more a fantasy of yours than truth about Qataris.
I haven’t been or even heard of a legal system that is “just” as they are designed to favor and protect a/the social group in power. And even those people get done in because law ultimately is designed to ensure compliance, through cost and fear, both real and imagined.
Seems like Craig used ChatGPT to write review and did not really review the output before posting on Tripadvisor, these are serious accusive statements that can be considered defamation without solid proof: "Security staff are instructed not to intervene and the hotel management conspire with police to allow men to treat women as they wish."
How often has it happened to other female OMAAT readers that they were approached by the pool of a 5-star property by complete strangers out of the blue, asking for her room number so that “they could have sex”?
I felt sorry for this couple until a read their review. We only have their version of the events but even assuming everything transpired exactly as reported by the aggrieved party (which is never the case), it hardly rises to the level of the hotel being unsafe for women and management conspiring with predators, not even close. I don’t know what they were expecting with such a grotesquely exaggerated and highly defamatory review (compensation from Marriott?) but Qatar was right to kick them out.
Woah...! If you are getting kicked out of a country for writing a negative review, we have no place to live in this world.
We all can agree that the hotel review is exaggerated, but it is no way an offense to be jailed and deported.
Good God, you're right. I meant to say 'decades' plural, not singular.
Thank you, porta-junk
If the manager is now at the St. Regis, Bal Harbour, Lucky can pop in and get the other side of the story.
Happens in Thailand too - folks get arrested there for posting 'defamation' online
Jessie who allowed you out of the kitchen. Last I checked you don't get an opinion. Now stfu and get your burka on and find the closest man and make him a sandwich before I report you
Great point. If it hasn't happened to a OMAAT reader, then it hasn't happened at all, to anyone, ever. Gotcha'.
How often has it happened to any OMAAT readers that their plane crashed into a mountain and they died? If it hasn't happened to anyone here, then it hasn't happened at all, to anyone, ever.
Thanks for your irrefutable logic, you really put it all in perspective for OMAAT readers.
At the moment?
Didn't you remember the Central Park five?
Hiroshima, Nagasaki?
That's why people don't care if their name is in the Epstein files.
The Brits, French, Germans, Israeli, etc.
They all have their own above the law incidents throughout history even at government level.
These are all propaganda to keep populations under control.
in light of what Jussie Smolletts claims is correct, and we've no reason to think it isn't.
Back in 2019 (if I remember correctly) Willy just believes everything on the internet must be true. He believes there is no reason to think Jussie wasn't assaulted.
I tend to believe victims, yes, because false claims of this type tend to comprise ~3%. I'll take the 97% odds over 3% any day.
It's also one of the reasons that people who make false claims do such damage to victims - stupid people glom onto the extreme rarities of false claims as if to prove that all "supposed" victims are lying.
Exhibit A of such stupidity: Eskimo
Agreed. Disgusting people running those god-forsaken countries. I would never support these countries which are the embodiment of evil.
Saying my comment is racist is like saying that you should hear out the Nazis. Disgusting and morally reprehensible. Really can’t fathom why anyone in the western world would try to defend these people. Certainly no one (speaking in hyperbole here, for the record) from East Asia would and by far it’s the safest and most developed region in the world. Wonder why…
You are inferring conclusions I never made.
I asked a simple question, nothing else.
Anyone suffering a "a severe trauma response" based on that has no business leaving their home country much less traveling to the middle east. The type of women whose attitude would be "I feel like slapping the sh1t out of them" has the better temperament for visiting such a location. I'm not absolving the hotel or the police of their responsibility.
Maybe you just want to tell us that the likelihood of this having happened as told is as high as the likelihood of a plane crashing into a mountain?
I find that I agree; I had a similar reaction when I read that too. While what happened to his wife was clearly disturbing his review comments where perhaps unwise.
Choosing to work at Mideast is his biggest mistake, continuing going to Qatar is his second mistake, I would never choose to work or live at Mideast where sexual assault and child bride are protected by laws.
This has likely been mentioned already, but if he's such a pro in Qatar, he should know to STFU about hotels and such. Or at least post a review with a burner account.
What happened to Sarah was terrible.
Unless there is more evidence than offered here, though, then there are multiple defamatory claims made in the review which Craig cannot prove. While the review may have been written in a heated moment, claiming anything other than the objective facts related to this single incident opens him up to legal repercussions.
It is more a cultural than lawful matter. Americans should avoid impose or reflect their culture and laws on non-western countries. Foreign cultures, including those of Europe, frown upon American culture when they observe it as chaotic, violent, dysfunctional and perhaps lawless. Today, the US is globally blamed for bringing down the rules based order that was established since post WWII. Asian cultures discourage disrespect older generations and the government. They focus more on the stability of the government and livelihood of their peoples.
Male residents in the region have staring problem with women and it is normal that they will hit on women. Most are Arab and South Asian males. But threatening with rape towards western white women is unheard of. Of course, there are rogue males who cannot control their urge when seeing women. Women must cover up because men blame them for their nefarious uncontrolled sexual temptation.
Why so many condemnations lunged at Qatar? It hosts the largest US military base in the region and pays for its entire operation. Until Feb. 28th of this year, it housed Hamas leadership at the behest of Israel and US to surveil Hamas movement while being blamed as the terrorist's sympathizer. After watching the military aggression and destruction in Gaza and Iran, nobody believes that Qatar could be in peace while hosting Hamas leadership in US and Israeli presence on its tiny soil without their blessing? It was the peace negotiator between Hamas and Israel war until Israel bombed it. Qatar withdrew from its role and Oman stepped up until US decided to forgo peace. It extended the most expensive airplane in history as a gift and Trump accepted. What should we call the US president who accepted the most expensive bribe in the world from a terrorist sympathizer? Qatar owns the bank that holds petro-dollars collected from selling Venezuela oil in the account under Trump and Rubio. Rubio will never have the ball to scam Trump and swindle money from him. As one of six other GCC states, Qatar provides medical/ dental services plus medication to all expats who work and live in their countries (free three decades ago but perhaps nominal fees today) while the number one factor that bankrupts Americans is unpaid medical expenses. No violence in Qatar and justice is in the eye of the beholder. It seems that Qatar fits the near perfect portrait of a loyal and subservient foot soldier of the US. The Constitution affords "due process" to everyone in the country, regardless of their legal and financial status. Did any locked up and deported immigrants who were swept up in current immigration round up receive it? Records showed more than 70% of them have no previous criminal history.
Lastly, I have no hotel or airline elite status because I am all in supporting local economy in every capacity. My money goes directly to the locals who do the heavy lifting work, not to the far-flung faceless and heartless franchise staff who only exercise their jaws on the phone.
" To do something that would ultimately send a top-tier guest to jail is utterly wild" --I read it as elites are untouchable and invincible, regardless of the misconduct or a crime. As a GM of the world's largest hotel franchise with a list of such achievements and awards, do we reasonably expect him to stick out his neck defending and supporting an elite customer or preserve and protect his employer's brand? Promotions are based on achievements and loyalty to the brand. I wholeheartedly support the hotel's response against the couple since their intent was maximum damage to the brand and Qatar when they posted on TripAdvisor, the world's largest and perhaps most influential forum for all travelers and expats alike. We all agree that online derogatory comments inflict severe damages to merchants, businesses and governments without recourse.
backwards dictatorships act like backwards dictatorships. some are just gold plated.
Quite a few countries make it a crime to post negative reviews. Anyone traveling the world needs to understand the laws and cultures where they are going. You can feel something isn’t “right” and it wouldn’t be illegal in the US but it is where you are so that is all that matters.
Singapore executes most drug dealers and uses canning as a punishment. That doesn’t stop me from going there. Frankly it is safer than than the US so maybe we are the ones that need to change.
As a gay man in my early 60s married to another gay man in his late 50s I for one never plan to set foot in that horrid and backwards part of the world.
One would never expect to suffer such a harrowing experience, nor, be treated in such an appalling manner by hotel management. Blaming the offended party and not the offender is a cultural phenomenon in that part of the world.
Surely this is yet another reason to avoid the commercial franchised hotel chains. Craig and Sarah have my respect and sympathy.
Charles, irrespective of your sexual orientation, this article is not about you nor your partner. Show some respect for the victims of this example of cultural differences. Your ‘ME’ obsession is inappropriate …. yes?
Two totally inappropriate comments from two worthless individuals. Your comments reflect your ignorance.
Vile comments from an obvious ignoramus only to be expected from some who post herein.
Unfortunately I'm more saddened than shocked, except for Marriott being such pieces of s#!t. I have come to expect very little from anything Marriott but this truly sets a new low.
We feel safer in Doha/Dubai compared to Hotels in London, Los Angeles & NY.Getting harassed By Homeless in US is not news worthy.
Actually this isn't a surprise any longer to come across this kind of misogynistic Douchebags here over this kind of topic... fyi, I am originally from in a country in Far East which western tourists are crazily flocking to if it ever matters to anyone whether one believes or not.
To all ,
I believe this is more a story that highlights the appaling lack of courage by the Marriot Bonvoy group, who are exploiting the somewhat draconian laws surrounding defamation in the region.
Marriot Bonvoy have a long history of not correctly representing the goals and protection that the region is striving to provide ( See Sonder group collapse, and the response to refunds for UAE tenants)
It is endemic to Marriot , NOT the region, that they look to "slip the noose of responsibility " every time they are backed into a corner.
Shame on Marriot Bonvoy , and please GCC region , take note of a global corporate entityyou are allowing to besmirch the good name of your countries.
Peace from the Middle East x
Except it wasn't just a negative review. I'm 100% sure if the sentence i posted wasn't included claiming the hotel management conspires with police etc nothing would have happened. Where is the evidence of this crazy statement by Craig
Thank you for your interest in what happened to us and for your sympathy for my wife. We have addressed many of the recurring questions — including this one — in the Q&A section at the bottom of our public statement: https://publicstatement.carrd.co/. I hope that is helpful
Thank you for your interest in what happened to us. We have addressed many of the recurring questions — including this one — in the Q&A section at the bottom of our public statement: https://publicstatement.carrd.co/. I hope that is helpful
We have addressed many of the recurring comments and questions — including this one — in the Q&A section at the bottom of our public statement: https://publicstatement.carrd.co/. I hope that is helpful
Hi Stefan. We have addressed many of the recurring comments and questions — including the points you raise — in the Q&A section at the bottom of our public statement: https://publicstatement.carrd.co/. I hope that is helpful
I can't help but wonder whether the couple in question exaggerate their story. If you read the first paragraph of their story, it seems more like a very dumb attempt at flirting - which was uncalled for and certainly inappropriate, but trying to turn it into "threat of sexual violence" may be a bit of a stretch unless there's more to the story.
At the same time, any business that sues customers for reviews, no matter how true or untrue, is automatically a place I'm gonna avoid. So are all countries with legal system which effectively provides no way to argue your case. Hard pass for me, irrespective of what actually happened in the hotel.
Great Timing to this story. I'm heading to the Ritz Doha this Friday. (Ambassador member here)
I agree with many of the comments about how true this story might be. I think this couple did not pay attention to the details or how they should handle the situation. For example, they assume that the hotel management or Marriott would take care of the situation. If it was such a problem to them then they should have filed a police report. Also, for example, their Trip Advisor review is very general. If it was more personally written even then it might not have caused a problem. How a situation is handled especially in a foreign country is important.
Elsewhere, Mr Barratt writes this: "From the start, we have asked Marriott for three things: meaningful acknowledgement of what happened, fair recognition of the harm caused, and a serious commitment to changing how guest safety complaints are handled across their global estate. The third is the one we care about most. We believe Marriott's conduct in our case reflects a wider institutional failure — in how global hotel groups handle complaints from guests in jurisdictions where local law can be weaponised against them, in how parent brands are accountable for the conduct of their managed and franchised properties, and in whether elite loyalty status means anything when a guest needs the company most... . We have spent that time trying to resolve this privately with Marriott. They have declined to engage meaningfully..." Having myself experienced similar from Marriott, I am with them all the way
Wife got hit on poolside and subject to perhaps offensive behavior, but don’t see how there was any physical contact or assault.
What does guest expect management to do? They did not witness the event (even if saw cctv can’t tell what words were spoken) BUT if you really feel your wife was violated you call the authorities (even if you think they won’t help) but why would you ever go to TripAdvisor and share THERE, a travel forum, what was claimed to be such a traumatic for your wife? That makes NO sense and lends me to believe it is exaggerated for some type of effort to gain compensation.