The Alex Hotel claims they are a "serene and welcoming environment."

That wasn't the case for Karen Kelly, who went to the hotel to meet with a business associate, and was told that she would hav to present her passport just to have a phone call placed to a guest there.

They will keep her passport on file for five years. (They initially told her one.)

And the manager is more than happy to admit this. Besides security, she didn't want a "bad element" in the hotel.

It grows more and more difficult to be anonymous in this country. And something about that disturbs me.