Originally Posted by B747-437B

So here's a big red flag and hopefully an isolated incident.

I was overnight in Addis yesterday and got assigned to Skylight as usual. No major changes other than that ADD restaurant was closed for a special Christmas event (it was Ethiopian Christmas) so the transit passenger buffet was moved to the nightclub downstairs. No problems unless you are mobility challenged as the nightclub is accessible via steps.

The problem occurred at checkout where they had laid out a bunch of tables in the conference center and were requiring all guests to open their baggage for a search "in case you have stolen anything from the room". I flat out refused and after some veiled threats from them about "you will miss your flight maybe", they eventually summoned a manager who instructed someone to go check my room for anything missing and they radioed down a few minutes later that the tissue box, spare toilet paper and whatever else they thought I might have swiped was still in situ.

That said, at least a dozen people were caught with something they shouldn't have had in their bags while I was waiting. This ranged from duvet/comforters to towels to toilet paper rolls to the actual branded in-room telephone. They were not discriminating by race or travel class or nationality - everyone checking out of the hotel was being searched.

Just a flag to anyone staying at Skylight that they should be aware this might happen, and that you can refuse to consent to the search (to their credit they did not attempt to touch my bags after I said a clear NO) and a manager will arrange for your room to be checked for missing items instead.