There is a conflict of interests between guest safety and guest satisfaction, which plagues the industry. By nature, hotels — especially five-star properties — are welcoming and discreet when a guest checks in. More rigorous identification procedures that require front-desk staff to demand additional personal information or physical proof of identity could jeopardise this.
(From a HotelierMiddleEast.com article)  Identifying hotel guests used to be a simple procedure; the receptionist had to match the name of the guest with the name on the reservation and then hand over the room key. But in today’s world of cyber crime, credit card fraud and identity theft, it is more important (and complicated) than ever to ensure that the person checking in to your hotel is really who they say they are.
In GCC countries, industry standards require hotels to upload data from the passport of every guest who is staying in the hotel on to a central government portal.
Two months ago, numerous individuals who were carrying false passports managed to enter the UAE, check into hotels using fake identities and fake credit cards, and then depart the country less than 24 hours later, after they allegedly assassinated Palestinian Hamas chief Mahmoud Al Mabhouh.
The events that took place at the Al Bustan Rotana Dubai in late January have still not been confirmed, but one thing is clear; a number of individuals managed to check into the hotel under assumed identities.
According to Al Bustan general manager Mohamad Haj Hassan, hotel staff followed standard protocol when several of the suspects checked in; taking a scan of their passports and a credit card swipe before handing them their room keys and wishing them an enjoyable stay.
http://www.hoteliermiddleeast.com/8056-whos-there/
