Hotel problems at the World Cup in Qatar! The dispute between a German businessman and a sheik also hit Argentina’s players’ wives hard.
Actually, Qatar wants to polish the image with the World Cup and luxury offers for the guests. But that doesn’t always work. On the contrary, there are often bizarre problems. The players’ wives from Argentina, who got into a hotel dispute between a German entrepreneur and a sheikh from Qatar, recently noticed this. What happened?
Volkhard Bauer is the boss of the company “Khaya”, with which he rents out accommodation for sporting events. At the World Cup, he also signed eight luxury hotels from a Qatar sheikh, including the five-star hotel “Velero”. The entrepreneur pays four million euros for the 240-bed facility. The shock came a month before the World Cup: the sheikh sold the “Velero” and refused to pay back the down payment plus a contractual penalty of 5 percent.
Instead there were threats. The sheikh threatened to cancel further contracts, the Khaya customers could not check in at times and had to pay extra fees for it. Another mean joke: For an extra bed, the reception suddenly asked for an additional 250 dollars – per night.
The result: numerous complaints from guests from Japan, Ghana and Mexico. At the “Horizon Manor” hotel, the manager is said to have even had extra beds taken out of the room because the hotel staff had forgotten to bill them – even when the beds were still occupied. The guest had to get up, the bed was removed.
Argentina’s players’ wives were not spared from the problems either. They, too, should pay an extra fee upon check-in at Hotel Waterfront. To avoid trouble, the Argentines’ travel agency stepped in at short notice and paid for the extra beds. Entrepreneur farmer rages. “I’ve never experienced anything like in Qatar! We’re being blackmailed here,” he says to “Bild”. He’s considering a lawsuit. Problem: The trial would be held in a Qatari court – and could take years.
