By JOE SHARKEY
The New York Times
January 24, 2006
DON'T try any funny business at the Alex Hotel in Manhattan, Karen
Kelly, because they've got your number, sister.
It is 1507. That is the number the desk clerk jotted on the photocopy
the hotel made of Ms. Kelly's passport. Ms. Kelly had to produce the
passport one night last week when she came into the lobby of the
hotel, which is at 205 East 45th Street, to meet an out-of-town
business associate.
"My husband and I travel a lot, but that was the most bizarre
experience I've ever had in a hotel lobby," said Ms. Kelly, a writer
who lives in Brooklyn.
"I'm one of those New Yorkers who doesn't have a driver's license, so
I carry my passport with me in case I do need to show a picture ID."
But because she was not checking into the hotel and not going anywhere
but the lobby, she did not count on having to produce a
government-issued photo ID just to have a clerk phone a guest room
from the front desk.
"I was kind of dumbfounded," she said. She handed her passport to the
clerk, who made the photocopy and jotted on it the file number, 1507,
and the time and date. The clerk told her the copy would be "kept on
file for a year," said Ms. Kelly, adding: "At that point, I was kind
of irritated at myself. I mean, a hotel lobby is, like, a public
place, right? They claim the right to demand ID just to come in?"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/business/24road.html?ex=1295758800&en=427434a9c8f68d4a&ei=5090
Monty Solomon (