Economist:

THE TWO New York hotels at the centre of the furore over inappropriate behaviour by guests have announced plans to issue their employees with panic buttons. The Sofitel, where Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the IMF, was arrested on charges of sexual assault last month, and the Pierre, where Mahmoud Abdel-Salam Omar, a former chairman of the Bank of Alexandria, was arrested two weeks later, are both taking steps to safeguard staff who may visit guest rooms alone.

Apparently, this kind of thing (overpaid men demanding sexual satisfaction from underpaid maids) is common in upscale hotels. The question is this: Does pressing this button mean losing your job? How many perverts is a fancy and overleveraged hotel willing to expose and upset with this button? The number of men who can afford to blow $3000 a night on a room is extremely low.