Why is an Omni hotel warning guests that ‘ladyboys’ could rob them?

While the term “ladyboys” would be considered offensive by most members of the transgender community in America, in Thailand it’s a common name for prostitutes who are either transgender women or effeminate men.

The Omni Complex in Bangkok is now warning guests who enter with a sex worker that the prostitute they have hired could be kathoey, commonly called a ladyboy, and even asks what price they’re paying for the “entertainment.” The paper also warns guests to be on guard for theft and violence.

“This is to inform you that the person you want to bring to your room is not a lady and he is a LADY BOY,” the warning reads. It goes on to ask two questions guests must answer.

The first question reads, “Now we are informing you she is a LADY BOY. Do you still want to bring her to your room?” while the second wants to know “Have you negotiate the price before he is going to your room? How much?” with a blank for guests to enter the price.

The paper handed to guests also includes the warnings “There are many occasion fighting begin fighting over the price” and “…there are cases where the valuables of guest lost after these entertainment people entered the room.”

Leow Yangfa is the executive director of Oogachaga, Singapore’s only LGBTQ support organization, wrote in an open letter on the site Dear Straight People that the warning is patently offensive.

“If it is a consensual, private arrangement between two adults, why should the hotel be the morality police?” he wrote. “And if the hotel is so concerned about vice, wouldn’t a sign or letter informing guests of the rules suffice?”

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