Gladys Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 1 minute ago, JessTickle said: What was the script with the hotel? Was that owned by the group or was it an HMO? There was something in one of the reports that the hotel owners did not know anything about what was happening, so possibly leased? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JessTickle Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 2 minutes ago, Gladys said: There was something in one of the reports that the hotel owners did not know anything about what was happening, so possibly leased? You would hope so given the large number of random bods working in communal areas and the specialist wok hob! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 8 minutes ago, JessTickle said: You would hope so given the large number of random bods working in communal areas and the specialist wok hob! A strong wok ethic? 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luker Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 1 hour ago, JessTickle said: What was the script with the hotel? Was that owned by the group or was it an HMO? It’s still a 3* boarding house not a HMO. Reading the BBC article apparently it all came as a big surprise as the owners weren't suspicious about the 30 to 40 Chinese people in there working Asia hours at 3 or 4AM in the morning with all the lights on surrounded by a capacious amount of IT equipment. Looking at trip advisor they haven't had a tourist review as an actual guest house since covid so you can probably assume that they became a full time Chinese work house around about that time after banking a load of covid support off the taxpayer. But like everyone else apparently it’s all a big shock and nobody really noticed anything odd about anything until it appeared in the papers. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 9 hours ago, Luker said: It’s still a 3* boarding house not a HMO. Reading the BBC article apparently it all came as a big surprise as the owners weren't suspicious about the 30 to 40 Chinese people in there working Asia hours at 3 or 4AM in the morning with all the lights on surrounded by a capacious amount of IT equipment. Looking at trip advisor they haven't had a tourist review as an actual guest house since covid so you can probably assume that they became a full time Chinese work house around about that time after banking a load of covid support off the taxpayer. But like everyone else apparently it’s all a big shock and nobody really noticed anything odd about anything until it appeared in the papers. Hesitated to respond, but what the hell. Why would the hotel owners suspect anything? Someone asks them if they will give over the whole premises to house staff for a new business opening in the IOM. The new business hasn't yet got business premises, but they are relocating a lot of staff who they want to house. After Covid, that is a nice source of year round income. Who would pass that up? We don't know if there was a lease of the whole premises, or some other arrangement, perhaps where they provided only housekeeping services. Although the installation of a catering wok leads you to think that the business fully staffed the hotel. As it was an Asian business, why would they be suspicious of night working? It kind of makes sense, and the owners or their staff may not have been there round the clock, if at all. Very unfair of you to impute that they were "in on it". They were not the only hotel to give their premises over to the gaming sector, so not without precedent. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luker Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 (edited) 45 minutes ago, Gladys said: Hesitated to respond, but what the hell. Because any normal business owner and operator couldn’t help but notice but I’m sure the mega bucks they got for renting out a grotty old hotel in one of the grimmest areas of Douglas bought enough eye patches to wear. You hesitated but clearly you can’t help having another attempt to justify the activities of this grubby little industry full of grubby people who are destroying the image of the IOM. If people didn’t notice then presumably they must have been as daft and as blinkered as you are to something that was obviously going on right under their noses which they chose to not to see as it didn’t align with what they were getting out of the deal. Yes. We let out our accommodation to multiple people for a massive scam for two or three years but strangely never twigged once to all that nocturnal activity going on and the publicity was such a surprise. Edited August 28 by Luker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 10 minutes ago, Luker said: Because any normal business owner and operator couldn’t help but notice but I’m sure the mega bucks they got for renting out a grotty old hotel in one of the grimmest areas of Douglas bought enough eye patches to wear. You hesitated but clearly you can’t help having another attempt to justify the activities of this grubby little industry full of grubby people who are destroying the image of the IOM. If people didn’t notice then presumably they must have been as daft and as blinkered as you are to something that was obviously going on right under their noses which they chose to not to see as it didn’t align with what they were getting out of the deal. Yes. We let out our accommodation to multiple people for a massive scam for two or three years but strangely never twigged once to all that nocturnal activity going on and the publicity was such a surprise. I am not justifying the industry at all, just pulling you up on throwing allegations around. What would they notice? Just that the activity at the property was as advised? Do you know that they let out accommodation to multiple people, or one business? Was it under their noses, were the owners even on the premises? As I say, unfair and the investigation hasn't finished yet. Who knows, perhaps the owners were in cahoots, or not? But you have jumped to a conclusion. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luker Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 28 minutes ago, Gladys said: I am not justifying the industry at all, just pulling you up on throwing allegations around. I think you’ll find a know a lot more than you who seems to simply just like arguing with anyone who disagrees with the things you make up. I would guess people are free to say what they think here and I’m certainly not going to shut up as a result of your weak challenges. They had the place up for sale for somewhere between £800k and £1m at one stage just as the gaming people went in trying to leverage that income. As I said Trip Advisor has no actual tourist review after around 2020 and the place became a dormitory for Chinese workers sometime after that. The BBC report, reports that the common areas of the hotel were stuffed with IT gear. But yeah nobody noticed or thought to wonder why a blue chip gaming company was putting people up in a crap house up the drives when the rest of King staff were in relatively swanking surrounding at the Admirals House with private dining. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mercenary Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 3 minutes ago, Luker said: I think you’ll find a know a lot more than you who seems to simply just like arguing with anyone who disagrees with the things you make up. I would guess people are free to say what they think here and I’m certainly not going to shut up as a result of your weak challenges. They had the place up for sale for somewhere between £800k and £1m at one stage just as the gaming people went in trying to leverage that income. As I said Trip Advisor has no actual tourist review after around 2020 and the place became a dormitory for Chinese workers sometime after that. The BBC report, reports that the common areas of the hotel were stuffed with IT gear. But yeah nobody noticed or thought to wonder why a blue chip gaming company was putting people up in a crap house up the drives when the rest of King staff were in relatively swanking surrounding at the Admirals House with private dining. I know nothing of this situation but I would note in other industries it's not an unusual situation for 'management' to have better digs than 'frontline' staff who are often shoved in guesthouses/holiday lodges/whatever accommodation is available for medium term lets. And being IT workers potentially with work/family in a different timezone, provided they were not bitcoin/crypto mining (on the hotel electric bill) as a landlord I would leave them to their 'quiet enjoyment'. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringy Rose Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 1 hour ago, Gladys said: Very unfair of you to impute that they were "in on it". They were not the only hotel to give their premises over to the gaming sector, so not without precedent. A Chinese-facing gambling company has what it says are Chinese customer services staff working what it says are Chinese business hours. Definitely suspicious! 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kopek Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 Were the hotel owners inadvertently.... money laundering???m Converting 'ill gottens' into ???? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luker Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 (edited) 14 minutes ago, Kopek said: Were the hotel owners inadvertently.... money laundering???m Converting 'ill gottens' into ???? If you banked a shit load of rent from one dodgy source without verifying the source of funds and source of wealth potentially. It’s different than letting out individual rooms for £75 a night to 20 odd people. Even at £75 a night. That’s 20 rooms so that’s £10,500 a week at full occupancy which is £546,000 a year assuming 52 weeks are filled. Edited August 28 by Luker 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ringy Rose Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 13 minutes ago, Kopek said: Were the hotel owners inadvertently.... money laundering???m Converting 'ill gottens' into ???? Unlikely, if the rooms were provided for a reasonable market rate. If there were other things going on, for instance a hotel grossly overcharges a criminal and then funnels money back to the criminal, then yes it would be. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luker Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 (edited) 3 minutes ago, Ringy Rose said: Unlikely, if the rooms were provided for a reasonable market rate. If there were other things going on, for instance a hotel grossly overcharges a criminal and then funnels money back to the criminal, then yes it would be. If you receive £500K from renting out 20 rooms for 52 weeks of the year to one client you are required to establish the source of the funds you receive. If the source of those funds paid to you are not kosher that will potentially create issues for you. Edited August 28 by Luker Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gladys Posted August 28 Share Posted August 28 29 minutes ago, Luker said: I think you’ll find a know a lot more than you who seems to simply just like arguing with anyone who disagrees with the things you make up. I would guess people are free to say what they think here and I’m certainly not going to shut up as a result of your weak challenges. They had the place up for sale for somewhere between £800k and £1m at one stage just as the gaming people went in trying to leverage that income. As I said Trip Advisor has no actual tourist review after around 2020 and the place became a dormitory for Chinese workers sometime after that. The BBC report, reports that the common areas of the hotel were stuffed with IT gear. But yeah nobody noticed or thought to wonder why a blue chip gaming company was putting people up in a crap house up the drives when the rest of King staff were in relatively swanking surrounding at the Admirals House with private dining. What have I made up? You have better knowledge if the situation so perhaps you should pass that on to the investigating authorities. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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