Disgusting behavior, but the pain is partially self-inflicted, as it is so often in such cases.

Why let people check in without a passport in the first place? If genuinely lost or stolen, at least ask for a copy, another piece of ID, a police report, whatever.

Why let people stay for prolonged periods of time without paying? It's mind boggling, haven't they read similar reports in the past and should be aware?

xandreu wrote: ↑Thu Aug 20, 2020 8:16 am This isn't directed at anyone in particular here - just a general observation after reading the many comments on social media about it...

My view is that blaming the guesthouse owners for being too kind is a bit like blaming the rape victim because of the way she was dressed, blaming the robbery victim for having gone to the ATM after one too many drinks or blaming the fraud victim for not checking that they were in fact talking to their real bank.

Being kind and offering a helping hand to someone with a sob story might be naïve, but it's not a crime. The only criminals are the ones who have left without paying while also stealing goods from the premises. It really bugs me how some people are far too quick to jump on the victim with these types of stories and highlight their naivety, innocence or carelessness rather than criticise the ones who actually committed the crimes.

What's worse is that there may be genuine cases where people desperately need a bit of help from the locals here, who would now be turned away because of bad experiences with foreigners such as this.

Your comments brought to mind a few cases back when I had my hostel. I can recall many instances of people who arrived at my place with genuine problems or looming problems.

The one that really sticks out is a young lady travelling solo who arrived one afternoon.
It all started before I had even booked her in. She didn't have any money for the tuktuk.. well no US dollars so I paid and told her I would add it to her bill. Then, as I was going through the booking in process she started to tell me she had had some trouble getting money from an ATM and that was why she didn't have any US dollars. Apparently, she kept getting the message "Insufficient funds". Anyway... long story short... after she started crying I realised this, to her, was a big deal and so we hopped on my moto and I took her to an ATM and she had been confusing the decimal point and was entering $20k or $2K or something and once I pointed this out she was able to withdraw money. She was able to laugh about it and she left a lengthy review that positively glowed.

Point is some people have experience with dealing with shit that comes their way, some are getting experience on how to deal with it.
I was lucky as I tried to do all the check-ins and sorta got the feel for those to "keep an eye on"... it's not an exact science but I never got caught out.