"had claimed specifically that UK hotels use wrist-bands in order to differentiate between classes of customer,"
He hasn't, as far as I know - in fact he hasn't given a reason for his comparing the situation of Asylum Seekers with that of 5* hotel customers (nor has anybody)
He began by referring to it as "common practice" in British Hotels then retreated to "Sharm" (el Sheik, presumably) and Shark Bay (haven't bothered to look that one up).
Quite honestly, I have no interest what hotels do - I've travelled fairly widely in Britain, Ireland, Europe, North Africa, and a couple of times, into Asia (though not far in) -
At no time have I experienced enforced armbands not even in the half- dozen ex-Communist countries I visited - though I am willing to bow to the experience of those who have.
My point throughout is that none of this has the slightest to do with asylum seekers being laid open to humiliation, abuse and even violence.
The practice has been, rightly discontinued - Britain's reputation regarding how we behave towards foreigners is, in my opinion, bad enough, without these people adding to it.
Jim Carroll