Tigerman
Contributor
Ever been to the red sea?It works in some locations. However, there is a cost/time implication to the dive center. That's okay in a low-volume market, such as the Maldives, but not really practicable in a high-volume/turn-over location, such as Koh Tao (Thailand) where dozens of divers may turn up at your shop on any given day...
It also requires either (1) the check-out to be free... and/or (2) every dive operation to conduct check-outs. Otherwise, you can commit business suicide by charging/demanding a check-out dive when competitors don't. It works well in the Maldives because each resort/dive center has a captive market. They can make their rules as they see fit and the customer has no choice but to comply... there is no immediate competition. That's not true in many/most diving areas.
It's also not practical if a holiday diver turns up at the shop at 7pm to book a (challenging) dive trip at 7am the next morning. Nor is it applicable to dive boat charters (dive site taxis) that only provide boat, not diving, services.
Besides which, a check-out dive can mean many things. In the Maldives, I found the (compulsory) check-out dives to be a shallow/confined water repetition of basic OW skills. Whilst that might show a degree of water comfort, it didn't prove any experience for deep, wreck or strong current diving etc...
Thats pretty darn high volume and its the norm to do checkout dives. You wont dive the Thistlegorm or the national parks before you've done the checkout dives - which is gonna take a day of your diving and its not going to be free.
Its not bad dives though, although nowhere near the more interesting sites unless you find some of the more or less residential mantas. These checkouts applies to everyone, regardless of certification level. The only way youre getting away from them with any reputable op is to be a regular customer coming there several trips every year.. Tech divers migh possibly be treated otherwise, but to be honest Ive seen some tech divers who shouldnt be doing 100ft drift dives..
Even if not everyone would be requiering it - I dont think it would be buisness suicide for a single/a few shops to require it while others dont - theres quite a lot of people that'd rather not dive with idiots..