‘When you are here we will try to look after you’

Under the guise of seeking escort services for business partners, the Irish Examiner’s Stephen Rogers conducted a telephone survey.

THE Irish Examiner contacted hotels in Dublin, Cork and Limerick and, under the guise of looking for escort services for potential business partners, asked for recommendations.

We asked to be put through to the concierge, as according to Hospitality Ireland, it is that person who is most likely to have the information. In each case, the person to whom we were put through was told we were businessmen who would shortly be entertaining potential business partners from Japan. We said those clients were looking for escort services while here and asked if they could recommend a reputable escort agency.

Here is a selection of the responses.

The Conrad Hotel, Dublin:

“We can’t get involved here. You just go up on the internet. There is a magazine called the ******** magazine. We could not do it for security reasons. But I know a lot of people go through the ******* and it has addresses of certain places and contact numbers and what have you. There is ******** lapdancing club and it is only practically around the corner.”

Gresham Hotel, Dublin:

“Not offhand. The clubs are the main place to go to. We have come across it here at the hotel itself. There are some, but they do not advertise very well.”

Jurys, Croke Park:

“I can’t give information over the phone, but when you are here we will try to look after you. You can get all the information from ******* magazine or from the internet, but the numbers keep changing.”

Clontarf Castle Hotel, Dublin:

“I would not know. It seems to be done on the internet and you take it from there. My only advice to you would be ‘be very careful’. Your best bet would be to give any contact numbers you find directly to the person staying here and do not take responsibility because there is a huge potential for it going pearshaped.

“If you need recommendations for strip clubs I can give that to you. There is the ***** club. It is just opened and it is one of the best ones.”

Fota Sheraton Hotel, Cork: (which did not appear to understand the question)

“I can take your name and number and someone will call you back, because I am not familiar with all these transportation kinds of things.”

Clarion Hotel, Limerick: (which also seemed confused)

“I never heard of it here. If they wanted to go on a tour, I can give you the number of a chauffeur. How many would there be?”