NEW BIG BROTHER WATCHING HOTEL BALEARIC GUESTS

By Humphrey Carter HOTEL guests in the Balearics will be monitored by the very latest state-of-the-art equipment from the start of next year. The ageing hotel registration systems are to be replaced by a new modern process which the Guardia Civil national Police and Balearic hotel association bosses agreed on during talks in Palma yesterday. The meeting took place at the central government delegate office and, according to the government's representative in the Balearics, Miguel Angel Ramis, police will be able to access the guest register manually, by fax and internet. Apart from the new system being more efficient and easier to use, it will also enable the police to “update” their files. At yesterday's meeting, the security chiefs and hotel association bosses agreed on how best to introduce the new system and which of the various systems, hotels will use to send guest information to the police. Ramis said that the new system “will not create” any extra work for hotel staff and will make it easier for hotels to contact the National Police and the Guardia Civil. “In fact, individual hotels will be able to choose which system they wish to use,” Ramis said. The central government delegate was also keen to stress that all hotels have been required to log guest information on a register for years - it quite simply involves reception taking a photocopy of a passport or identification documents. All that is going to change in accordance with government legislation passed in July, is the method in which that information is stored and sent to the police.