Tourism
PRESIDENT of Oyo State Hoteliers Association, Mr Ayodele Ogundele, on Monday said the rise in number of apartments and other related short-time apartments in Oyo state was becoming worrisome.
Ogundele said it was worrying that several people were now converting their houses and other apartments for short-time occupation to make money without following due process.
“These places have no signage but rather place adverts on social media to get customers,” he said at a one-day Tourism and Hospitality Conference in Ibadan.
“Everything to secure them (the short-time apartments) is done online, and they are very common now in residential areas.
“People book them without any form of registration, which cannot happen in a well-structured hotel.
“To book in an hotel you’re given a form which has several questions that must be filled.
“Many perpetrators of evil acts have moved into these places and shifted from hotels,” Ogundele added.
He added that the conference was aimed at safeguarding their business and letting all stakeholders realise that hotel business has taken a new turn.
“We are not here at this summit to get more patronage but to safeguard our hotel business, which is our livelihood, and Oyo state.
“The killing at a hotel in Ile-Ife affected the hospitality business in Osun greatly and we are yet to recover until date.
“We now have people who are going to Osun from Lagos preferring to sleep in Ibadan because of fear.
“We’ve been collaborating with all relevant security agencies which hotels are aligned with, and we won’t stop cooperating with them.
“I always tell our members that when the EFCC visits any hotel, they already have who or those they have come for and when you’ve not done the proper documentation that’s when there’s a problem with the easy location of the suspect.
“When proper documentation has been done, the security agency will easily go to the room and pick up who they have come for,” the association president said.
Ogundele pointed out that his association was not in support of any unruly act and not following due process.
“It’s a standard procedure that identification cards of all visitors to a hotel must be inspected,” he said.
Ogundele added that both the Oyo State Government and Federal Government were also losing a lot in terms of revenue by not collaborating with the hoteliers association.
“There are several buildings being used as hotels which are not known to a greater number of the population and revenue offices can never identify such places.
“We also have some hotels that are owned by the big men and women in the society and which don’t belong to the association because they are not bothered.
“It’s only the government that can handle such persons.
“Many hotels are not under the association because in Nigeria, there’s freedom of association.
“Looking at Awolowo Road and Ring Road (in Ibadan), where we have many clubs and lounges, we now have more small hotels that charge N10,000 per night.
“We need the Housing Corporation to also come on board to fish out these property owners and make them do the needful by ensuring they pay because the house is no longer residential but commercial,” he stated.
Ogundele said they have done so much as an association, and the rest were now for government.
“Government has a whole lot to do. For a month we went round all the hotels in Oyo state and did the documentation of all those who wanted to be members of the association.
“We’re open to collaborating with the Oyo State Tourism Board to expand what we already have,” he said.
The hoteliers association president also decried the fact that many youths now see the use of drugs as recreational.
“Now we have youths who can’t wake up and work without using substances.
“An hotelier’s biggest problem right now is employment, and we have too many youths who are not employable because of drugs, who want quick money to buy substances,” he said.
Speaking also at the event, Mr Wasiu Olatubosun, the Oyo State Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, charged all relevant authorities to further solidify their cooperation with the association.
“This is for the safety of all. It’s pivotal for all agencies and the association to form a synergy.
“We all need one another to ensure safety and peace in the state.
“I can assure of working with the Committee on Culture and Tourism to come up with a bill that will help solidify and strengthen hospitality in the state,” he said.
An Assistant Commissioner of Police, Mr Martins Bamigboye, urged all hotel owners to cooperate with the Nigeria Police Force (NPF) in combatting criminality.
Bamigboye called for adequate education of persons to be employed as receptionists or front desk personnel.
“They should be adequately taught on proper documentation of guests and going a step further not to give lodging to a criminal.
“Criminals and fraudsters are ardent users of hotels,” he said.
Mrs Toyin Ehindero-Benson, the Head of Special Control Unit Against Money Laundering (SCUML) of EFCC, said the association was an important sector to the Commission.
“But we have some stubborn hoteliers who are always questioning our activities. We are not after any hotel as long as they comply and do all that’s expected of them by us.
“All hotels are expected to be registered with us. You should not be operating (as a hotel) if not under us,” she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the association said it has 625 hotels registered with it in Oyo state, while 495 of them are in Ibadan.(NAN)
18th November, 2024.
C.E
Tags:
