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  1. #1
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Welcome to Qatar!

    Wyndham to Investigate as Qatari Hotel Says Gay Guests Banned


    • Activists worried over treatment of LGBTQ+ people at World Cup
    • Reporters posed as gay couple planning honeymoon in Qatar


    By Simone Foxman and Patrick Clark (Bloomberg)

    May 13, 2022, 8:10 PM GMT+7

    Wyndham Hotels & Resorts Inc. said it would investigate after its Doha hotel said gay tourists weren’t welcome, heightening concerns over the treatment of LGBTQ+ people who attend the soccer World Cup in Qatar later this year.

    Journalists from state broadcasters in Denmark, Sweden and Norway posed as gay newlyweds planning their honeymoon when attempting to book a room at 69 hotels on FIFA’s official list of recommended providers. Norway’s NRK reported that the Wyndham Grand Regency was among three that wouldn’t allow them to book a room, citing Qatari laws that render homosexuality illegal.

    Parsippany, New Jersey-based Wyndham Hotels said in an emailed statement that the company would “look into this immediately as the actions taken do not reflect of our core values including being inclusive.” It added that “being welcoming and inclusive to all is simply part of who we are and how we do business,” and touted a perfect score on Human Rights Campaign’s Corporate Equality Index.

    The Torch Doha and Magnum Hotel & Suites Westbay also declined to host the fictitious couple, NRK said. Torch Doha later told the broadcaster it would respect policies set out by World Cup organizers. Neither hotel responded to Bloomberg requests for comment outside normal business hours.

    Activists have raised concern about the safety of LGBTQ+ people planning to attend the World Cup which begins in November, the biggest global sporting event ever held in the Middle East.

    The local organizing committee has pledged Qatar will welcome visitors of all sexual orientations, as long as they abide by a general rule against displays of public affection that also applies to heterosexual couples.

    In a document on sourcing policies, the committee also stipulates that businesses it works with mustn’t discriminate against customers on the basis of sexual orientation. However, a government official in charge of security for the event told the Associated Press last month that rainbow flags could be taken away from fans in order to protect them from attack.

    The trio of Swedish, Danish and Norwegian reporters called or emailed hotels saying they’d heard there could be challenges for gay people in Qatar and asking if they’d be welcome to stay at each property.

    Thirty-three had no objection, while 20 properties responded that it was acceptable so long as the couple didn’t exhibit any behavior that would identify them as gay men.

    Qatar’s faced scathing criticism about its record on human rights ever since winning the rights to host the World Cup in 2010. Though activists have condemned policies that limit rights of women and LGBTQ+ people, most of the uproar has focused on the treatment of low-income migrant workers.

    Hospitality companies haven’t been immune from such scrutiny. In a 2021 survey of 19 hotel brands operating in Qatar, the UK-based Business & Human Rights Resource Centre found a “widespread lack of action” to prevent and exclude forced labor, though it praised increasing engagement and attention to the issue from some of those it contacted. The organization said Wyndham didn’t respond to its request for information in last year’s survey.

    While hotel brands like Wyndham market thousands of properties across the world, they often don’t own individual hotels or directly employ most workers, leading to policies and standards that differ across locations.


    Majestically enthroned amid the vulgar herd

  2. #2
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    malmomike77's Avatar
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    Its bandit country Tom.

  3. #3
    กงเกวียนกำเกวียน HuangLao's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    Its bandit country Tom.

    Entitled and special.

  4. #4
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    ...it seems to me that as Qatar has purchased the World Cup, they would want to lighten up on the various Muslim -phobias that others have persistently warned about...however, it appears as long as gays remain in the closet and pda demos remain subdued, everything is halal...of course, men holding hands strolling on the Corniche and cheek-bussing is allowed because that's...Islamic...

  5. #5
    Thailand Expat
    malmomike77's Avatar
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    there's even worse news

    Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022

  6. #6
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Gosh who predicted that?

    If Qatar has more surprises in store they will probably keep them until it's too late for FIFA to do anything.

    Should never have got the fucking thing in the first place.

  7. #7
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Should never have got the fucking thing in the first place.
    ...no bank account inquiries yet of those who voted to hold the World Cup in a totally inappropriate venue...

  8. #8
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...no bank account inquiries yet of those who voted to hold the World Cup in a totally inappropriate venue...
    Oh they've caught people red-handed, but that wanker in charge of FIFA has his snout in the same trough.

  9. #9
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    Wonton's Avatar
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    Money talks

  10. #10
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    malmomike77's Avatar
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    ^^ they are based in Switzerland, home to many corrupt global organisations and accountable to no one.

  11. #11
    Thailand Expat
    Troy's Avatar
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    The Middle East is on my ignore list...

    ...can't be bothered with such barbarians.

  12. #12
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Anyone for sanctions ?

  13. #13
    Thailand Expat
    malmomike77's Avatar
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    When i said Switzerland i meant Dimmark also.

  14. #14
    Thailand Expat helge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    Dimmark
    Harsh word on a lovely day in may.

    Brittonculi !

  15. #15
    Thailand Expat
    malmomike77's Avatar
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    sorry, predictive text

  16. #16
    Thailand Expat

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    Quote Originally Posted by malmomike77 View Post
    there's even worse news

    Revealed: 6,500 migrant workers have died in Qatar since World Cup awarded

    https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2021/feb/23/revealed-migrant-worker-deaths-qatar-fifa-world-cup-2022
    In my personal experience in Qatar, many of those who died were probably asleep at the time due to heat exhaustion. Killed by falling masonry as a result of shoddy building practices, or run over by giant trucks, while they hid their sleeping bodies in shadows or under tarpaulins.

    Working conditions and workers were not very good at the time. There were a few responsible souls who made the effort to apply some basic safety standards, but the urgency of works run by unscrupulous gang masters was equally culpable.

    A small country, where around 80% of the working population were immigrants, it’s easy to understand how standards were allowed to deteriorate. The company I worked for was in its infancy, but out of 100 supervisory staff, there were incomers from 37 different countries. We were in effect managers, but that title was restricted to Qatari nationals only, so we supervised, just on higher wages.

    The top hotel lobbies were always busy with Qatari functionary’s, sat drinking tea, which was usually whisky. Some things never change.

  17. #17
    Thailand Expat tomcat's Avatar
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    ...sub-continental lives don't matter...probably a remnant of the old British colonial attitude: there's plenty more where they come from...

  18. #18
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    Blame everything on the British, just for a change.
    We don't care, we are used to it

    Fvck Qatar and fvck the world cup and RIP to the slaves that died in that camel shagging sandpit.

  19. #19
    Thailand Expat
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    Quote Originally Posted by tomcat View Post
    ...sub-continental lives don't matter...
    According to their sub-continental masters, this is correct. The first project I did there had about 200 Indians on site when I got there and their conditions were the worst I've ever seen, by a mile. Poor bastards were living like animals and being treated like them too, so the Project Manager and I arranged a meeting and went to see the Indian CEO and owner of the labour contractor in his palatial office with his Bentley parked out front. He patiently listened to our grievances over his companies treatment of the personnel we were hiring from him (his own fellow countrymen ffs!) then his opening reply which I'll never forget was "Mr Dave, Mr Worx, the first thing that we have to do is realise that not all people are created equal..."

  20. #20
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    FIFA and UEFA are absolute filth.

    Arsene Wenger and David Beckham can go sodomise themselves.

  21. #21
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Sybs you support the baggies, why do you care about UEFA?


  22. #22
    Isle of discombobulation Joe 90's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by harrybarracuda View Post
    Sybs you support the baggies, why do you care about UEFA?

    Ouch

  23. #23
    Hangin' Around cyrille's Avatar
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    The topic is the world cup, you two fkin morons.


  24. #24
    Thailand Expat harrybarracuda's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    The topic is the world cup, you two fkin morons.

    OK sybs.

    Quote Originally Posted by cyrille View Post
    FIFA and UEFA are absolute filth.

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