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including legislators and tra­ditional leaders — were locked out of their hotel rooms and had their belong­ings thrown out for failing to settle their bills.

The delegates were on Tuesday shocked to discover their bags removed from their hotel rooms at Crowne Plaza  Monomotapa during their absence after the hotel said they could not go beyond the two-day period that Copac had booked and paid for them. This was after the Copac confer­ence failed to conclude its business within two days.

Copac administrator Mr Gift Marunda confirmed the incident.
“We had booked 160 rooms with the hotel but on the day of checking in, they told us that they could only accommo­date half of our delegates. This meant we had to look for alterna­tive accom­modation for 80 delegates and paid again when we had already paid them.

“We then asked the hotel to accom­modate those delegates for the third day but they did an unethical business prac­tice to say that an outstanding amount would cover the arrears we owed them before. They accepted money for 160 delegates as a way of recovering money we previously owed them and that is unethical,” said Mr Marunda.
He said they had apologised to the MPs and Chiefs for the incident.

Mr Marunda said they owed Crowne Plaza more than US$100 000 in other previous business transac­tions.
Copac had to run around to look for other hotels after Crowne Plaza refused to extend the two-day period.
Legislators who spoke to The Her­ald said they felt embarrassed by what the hotel did.
The same happened at Holiday Inn where the hotel accom­modated half of those that had been booked as a way of recovering out­standing debts.

“If we are to say can you refund us for the remaining number that you did not accommodate, they would say but you owe us, I think that is their strat­egy,” he said.

When contacted, Africa Sun chief executive officer Dr Shingi Munyeza said he could not comment on their relationship with guests.
He however, said, as a business prac­tice one should pay for any serv­ice, oth­erwise it would be discontin­ued.
“I maintain and respect the confi­dentiality of my guests and I would not go on record speaking about our rela­tionship. What I can say is that as a business prac­tice one should pay for any service he gets notwithstanding his standing in society otherwise serv­ice would be dis­continued,” said Dr Mun­yeza.

Asked if the unilateral removal of goods in one’s room was not embar­rassing, Dr Munyeza did not agree.
“It is just the same as being switched off by Zesa for not paying, is it not embarrassing?
“What happens when your airtime is exhausted, are you not switched off and is it not embarrass­ing?” asked Dr Munyeza.

He said people flocked to Africa Sun because it offered the best service and it was those very people who do not pay for service who would aban­don it if service deteriorated.

“For a hotel to continue providing world class service, people should pay, we do not survive on air, that is the business principle, why do you expect us to digress from that principle?” fumed Dr Munyeza.

President of Chiefs Council Fortune Charumbira confirmed that his mem­bers’ belongings had been removed from their hotel rooms but said it was important to be fair.

“You need to look at both sides. The hotel said you had booked for two nights, in addition they are owed a lot of money, so you need not to be one-sided,” he said.