crime

Hotel's safety policy under fire after woman employee molested

42 Comments

Hotel chain Toyoko Inn's lack of safety measures to protect staff is being blamed after a female employee in her 20s was allegedly molested on Sept 14.

The woman, who works at the front desk of a Toyoko Inn in Aichi Prefecture, told a news conference this week that a male guest had called her to his room over some trouble involving a call girl and he wanted an apology. When she got to the room, the man was alone and allegedly propositioned her. She told reporters that he then tried to undress her, unbuttoning her blouse and putting his hand up her skirt. He also threatened to sue the woman and the hotel group.

According to Toyoko Inn, four front desk clerks work in shifts at the hotel, but only one woman at a time works the night shift. The woman said employees have never received any safety manual or been told what to do about troublesome guests. Hotel officials said that emergency buzzers were available for use, but the woman said she had not been told about them.

The woman said she was traumatized by the incident and reported it to police. She said that she has suffered insomnia since and is currently on a leave of absence. She said she called the news conference after writing to Toyoko Inn, requesting negotiations leading to compensation for inadequate safety measures. She has since joined the National Union of General Workers.

A Toyoko Inn spokesperson said: "We haven't been able to confirm the content of her request as yet, so we cannot comment any further."

© Compiled from news reports

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42 Comments
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I am very glad my wife does not work the night shift anymore. Even so at least at her hotel there are always 2 people during the night shift.

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The woman worked alone but emergency buzzers were available - if she had of been told about them and had used one who would have heard it and came to her rescue anyway? She was working on her own!

Did she report this incident to the Police as sexual molestation or attempted rape?

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No night guard? Strange.

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@goddog "No night guard? Strange." not really. I have stayed in a business hotel probably 25 different times while living in Japan. I have never seen this thing you call a night guard. but I can attest to the fact that most of the time there is only 1 person that seems on duty on the night shift.

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GOOD! Japanese are starting to ask for compensation. Japanese women can make a bundle suing perverted Japanese men. That's a gold mine.

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Fair enough. Everyone has the right to a safe working environment.

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What an uncaring response by Toyoko Inn. I hope she gets a bundle in compensation. Maybe that will get them to wake up, take notice and act responsibly to ensure their workers aren't molested by hotel guests.

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We haven’t been able to confirm the content of her request as yet, so we cannot comment any further.

BS

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No mention of police arresting the unruly guest? Is sexual molestation a crime in Japan?

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"No mention of police arresting the unruly guest? Is sexual molestation a crime in Japan?"

Well on the numerous U.S. bases in Japan it is definately a crime followed to the full extent of the law.

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a male guest had called her to his room over some trouble involving a call girl and he wanted an apology.

And she thought it was a good idea to go to his room and discuss his prostitute?

told a news conference

Then she had a press conference? Clearly the male guest is in the wrong but the female clerk sounds like an attention seeking poor judgement loser too.

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@porter Agreed. She shouldn't have gone into his room. That's just common sense. That said, this particular chain has behaved abysmally in the past and deserve everything they get. That said, the last thing Japan needs now is the spread of a US-style litigious culture. We've got enough social problems as it is.

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Classic line from Japanese companies who don't want to take responsibility. So lets just criminalize the victim and brush it off.

I'm glad she's taking this as far as she can. Teach this company a lesson, lets just hope the legal system won't let her down as its known to do in a lot of other cases.

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I worked in a big hotel and although we had a lot of staff on thie night shift so we could afford it, women were not allowed to go anywhere except for the back space without a male member of staff with them.

Toyoko inn probably can't afford to do that though.

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The guy had a complaint...about a PROSTITUTE? Would a female member of staff have visited this guy's room in any other country but Japan?

The set patterns of behaviour and the utter incapability of many Japanese in breaking them constantly astounds me here.

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The guest must have left a name and address at the front desk. He should be the main focus of attention.

(Unless of course she was in cahoots with the guest, out to screw the hotel together...)

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We don't know what the guy actually said when he called the front desk. The fact that he was having a problem with a prostitute may have only come up when she got to the room.

Or he could have said he had a call girl with him who refused to leave and needed someone with authority to go there and tell her to get out.

In any case and regardless of what was said to make her go up there, it's pretty reasonable to expect that when you go to address a customer's complaint that they won't try to rape you.

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If I'm not mistaken Toyoko Inn's byline was they're 'anzen' for female guests. Apparently not for female employees.

Maybe they should consider having at least one male and one female on duty. I've seen smaller business hotels that have at least two employees during the night shift. Uncommon requests like that should be handled by guys.

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She must have encouraged him in some way.

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@kujiranikusuki . I have stayed at lots of business hotels too, and there is usually someone else in a room sleeping that works there, but Toyoko Inn is not a tiny little business hotel. It is a big company.

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Yeah can just see it now - hey I'm having trouble with me ho can ya come n sort her out n help me. Yeah right!

Doubt it would have been that straight forward.

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"...a male guest had called her to his room over some trouble involving a call girl and he wanted an apology."

Ummm... is that a justifiable reason to complain? and would you go to the room if someone complained about this? This is ridiculous.

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Ah yes, the shitty Toyoko Inn! They are the same ones who did away with their parking spaces for wheelchair customers, and now these same cheap bastards letting a lone young female work all night by herself, how cheap and stingy can anyone be, well I guess these stingy bastards at the Toyoko Inn can only answer that. I hope she sues the hell out of them!

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She told reporters that, he then tried to undress her,unbottening her blouse and putting his hand up her skirt???.then what happened? her story is not complete.something is wrong here,did she scream for help? well i reserve my comments untill the whole story comes out.

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"...a male guest had called her to his room over some trouble involving a call girl and he wanted an apology." Ummm... is that a justifiable reason to complain? and would you go to the room if someone complained about this? This is ridiculous.

What probably happened was that the prostitute came to the hotel, but they wouldn't let her in- no non-guests after a certain time, or they wouldn't let her in because they could tell she was a prostitute (only asking how to get to a room number, not a guest by name etc...). Thats one of the ways we used to spot them at where I worked.

He probably wanted them to apologize about not letting the prostitute in.

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Guest on the phone: I have a complaint! The prostitute I ordered didn't come because you sent her away!

Front desk clerk: Okay. We'll send someone up right away.

WTF, right?

Glad this woman is standing up for herself. Too many companies here get away with treating employees like crap.

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What happen to the male guest? If he is found guilty I hope he lands in jail! He should be prohibited from ever visiting this hotel ever again. Perhaps blacklisted by this hotel chain.

Unfortunately this situation can even happen in nice hotels. As a former manager who worked at a luxury hotels and resorts. I always took security or another manager with me when going up to guest rooms to address a guest concern.

I hope the female associate rebounds and learns from this experience. I hope management steps up and helps this associate.

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I stayed at a Toyoko Inn , I think it was in Kokura. The attendants were unfriendly and abrupt, and barely wanted to have me.

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What happen to the male guest? If he is found guilty I hope he lands in jail! He should be prohibited from ever visiting this hotel ever again. Perhaps blacklisted by this hotel chain.

Not just this hotel. Hotels share information on bad customers. He'll be on the list.

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I get that she was dumb for going to his room(apologize?), he is in the wrong(sue?) and the hotel is bad(buzzer?). Fine.

The report is too neat.

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The hotel guest should be arrested and sent to face the firing squad like they do in China....they should show on all tv channels as a lesson to other would be molesters....

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Albani and smithinjapan i have to agree with your post. 1. its ridiculous and 2. will wait for the story. who knows.

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a male guest had called her to his room over some trouble involving a call girl and he wanted an apology. When she got to the room, the man was alone and allegedly propositioned her. ..he then tried to undress her, unbuttoning her blouse and putting his hand up her skirt.

This is the plot of every Japanese porn movie ever made! In seriousness, I hope she sues their a$$ off - and this grubby, pathetic excuse for a man gets a massive dose of karma x 100 come down on him like a tonne of bricks.

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They're in cahoots and running a sham. Who leaves the front desk unattended to enter a guest's room for an apology.

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No mention of police arresting the unruly guest? Is sexual molestation a crime in Japan?

I also find it odd that the victim's outrage seems to be focused on the hotel chain itself, rather than the actual guest who molested her.

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C'mon, flamnhead - this woman has had the courage to go public with her ordeal. Likely 99 out of 100 women would not. I shudder to think of what many women working in business hotels/bars and other establishments have to endure, where they have to deal with businessmen who have been on the drink - on a nightly basis.

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I find myself thinking that this woman's story is complete crap! Just too many variables that don't make sense. Either that or bad reporting!

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"the report is too neat" I meant the story/account appears to be flawless at first glance.

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Yeah she went public alright. Smart enough to do that and all the sense to go alone into a drunk guest's room in the middle of the night.

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The woman said employees have never received any safety manual or been told what to do about troublesome guests.

Gee, here's an unconventional idea...

How about calling the police....?

Oh, I forgot these clown cops you have, are more likely to hold you down while, while someone else, either stabs you, takes an indecent picture, or gropes you...

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mindovermatter, I was thinking the same thing. In this case, "stab' can work a couple of different ways. LOL

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"all the sense to go alone into a drunk guest's room in the middle of the night."

Where does it say he was drunk?

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