City leaders will look at solicitation laws

By Rusty Ray
WBTW Anchor/Producer
Published: August 25, 2008

Myrtle Beach city leaders could make it more difficult for some Grand Strand businesses to advertise in a way that makes some other business owners wary.

At Tuesday’s regularly scheduled meeting, council will have first reading on an ordinance that would allow police to charge food delivery workers with a crime if they are caught soliciting business on another business’s property.

Currently, city law only allows charges to be brought against a business owner who sends an employee to solicit business.

Hotel owners had complained to the city about the nuiscance caused when delivery workers leave menus behind in hotels.

“It doesn’t look right when (customers) walk in and there’s paper, and it’s not us,“ said George Shaw, assistant general manager at Hampton Inn at Broadway at The Beach.

“They (delivery workers) know when there’s no one in the hallways, or housekeeping. They know when to come in,“ Shaw said. “They’ve got this down to a science.“

Shaw also said his customers, if they do order food from some of these businesses, are often not satisfied with the level of service they do receive, if they receive service at all.

“The guest is stuck with it. They complain to us, and we have to deal with it, unfortunately,“ he said.

News13 tried contacting two of the businesses on the fliers Shaw found in the hotel: Pizza Plus and Express Pizza. All of the phone numbers rang busy at Pizza Plus, and the number for Express Pizza went straight to an answering service.  Pizza Plus was closed and no one was at its Highway 501 location in Myrtle Beach around 4:15 p.m. Monday.

As for the new ordinance, Shaw is hopeful city leaders can make it easier for hotel owners to please their customers.

“The (restaurant) owners aren’t going to want to face or pay fines for something more expensive than the product they’re selling,“ he said.