Man Stays At Delhi 5-star Hotel For Nearly Two Years, Leaves Without Paying Rs 58 Lakh Bill

Guests in the hospitality industry are highly respected and given the utmost care, ensuring they have a comfortable and satisfying experience. Hotels aim to provide an exceptional stay that leaves a memorable impression, where guests feel pampered and appreciated.

But what occurs when a guest exceeds the average duration of their stay?

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Now, picture a story that pushes the boundaries of hospitality, where one daring individual takes advantage of the system, leaving the hotel management astounded by boldacious actions.

Roseate House, a luxurious hotel near the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi, reported a significant financial loss of Rs 58 lakh. The failure occurred due to a prolonged stay by one of its guests, who, with the cooperation of specific hotel staff, managed to reside in the hotel for almost two years without making any payments.

The hotel has now filed a police report against Ankush Dutta, the in question guest, and a staff member.

Representing Bird Airports Hotel Private Limited, the company responsible for operating Roseate, Vinod Malhotra, filed a First Information Report (FIR) providing a detailed account of the incident.

Malhotra emphasizes that Ankush Dutta's lengthy stay of 603 days resulted in a tremendous cost of Rs 58 lakh, which the guest purposefully avoided paying before checking out.

The FIR charges Prem Prakash, the head of the Front Office Department, who was granted the authority to determine room rates and access the hotel's computer system for documenting guest dues, of deliberately violating hotel policies to accommodate Dutta's prolonged stay.

The hotel's management accused Prakash of accepting illegal cash payments from Dutta in exchange for altering the hotel's in-house software system. This system is meant for maintaining and monitoring guests' duration and financial accounts.

According to the FIR, "guest Mr. Ankush Dutta and some known and unknown hotel staff, including Mr. Prem Prakash, hatched a criminal conspiracy to gain an unfair advantage and deprive the hotel of its rightful dues."

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Additionally, the FIR alleges that the involved staff members engaged in forgery, deletion, and addition of account entries while manipulating multiple records within Ankush Dutta's account in the hotel's Opera software system.

According to the accusations, Ankush Dutta initially checked into Roseate House on May 30, 2019, reserving a room for one night.

However, instead of adhering to the scheduled checkout date of May 31, he continuously extended his stay until January 22, 2021. According to the hotel's policies, if a guest's outstanding dues exceed 72 hours, it is mandatory to inform the CEO and Financial Controller. However, Prakash failed to report Dutta's pending dues to the higher authorities within the hotel.

Furthermore, the FIR reveals that Prakash intentionally avoided generating outstanding payment reports from May 30, 2019, until October 25, 2019.

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Even when he eventually generated the report after October 25, he deceitfully combined pending bills from unrelated guests, concealing Dutta's outstanding charges within the consolidated statement.

Roseate House asserts that Prakash employed various tactics to facilitate Dutta's prolonged stay, including fabricating accounts to indicate that other guests had made payments on his behalf. This claim was later proven to be false.

Additionally, the hotel discovered that Ankush Dutta issued three checks of varying amounts¡ªRs 10 lakh, Rs 7 lakh, and Rs 20 lakh¡ªon different dates, and all of these checks bounced.

Prakash deliberately kept this information hidden from the hotel management.

Demanding strict legal action against the perpetrators, Roseate House argues that they have committed a series of criminal offenses, including criminal breach of trust, cheating, forgery, and falsification of accounts.

(With PTI inputs)

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