A young woman was accompanied by her husband to attend an exam in the city. They decided to check into a popular hotel for the day but were met with a less than pleasant welcome. They were refused a room and the hotel personnel had no qualms in telling them that they did not serve rooms for local customers.
Regressive and unnecessary moral policing against couples that ask for rooms to stay in city hotels is not a rare occurrence. Deepthi Urs, an event management head, explains how she was refused a room since she hadn’t worn her mangalsutra, as per the traditional customs. She says, “I have a registered marriage with my husband. Their excuses were ridiculous. They declined us a room as they said we looked like localites and they had an issue because I wasn’t wearing my thaali.” This is a common occurrence even at the bigger hotels. Localites are refused rooms unless they provide valid documentation proving their marital status.
For the past few years, the rules have been stringent when it comes to providing rooms to couples, says a manager at a popular city hotel. “The person manning the front desk, or the security in charge, takes a call when a couple walks in for a room. As hotel personnel we do not have an issue giving a room but we do ensure that they have valid identification. In cases, when one of them has forgotten their ID we make a call by judging their profile. It all depends on who is checking them in.”
A petition on a popular website against this issue has garnered a lot of support. Over 27, 000 people have signed out of the required 35,000 to send an advisory to hotels, to end regressive policies. Sandhya Mendonca, a city-based professional, who signed this petition states, “ The business of a hotel is to sell rooms to whoever can afford to stay there. As long as they don’t cause havoc or break a law, the hotel has no right to dictate the moral conduct of its customers. I travel alone quite often for work and pleasure, and it is entirely my privilege to stay alone in my hotel room or share it, and also to stay in a hotel in my own city.”
The issue at hand is subjective as Dr Sudhasubala Sahu, a sociologist explains, “This move acts as a check on organised prostitution, but it also violates the fundamental rights of adult couples who should enjoy all kinds of freedom guaranteed in our constitution,” From a moral point of view, she adds, “I would like to say that this is another phase of transition that we are going through. Like all other aspects of social transformation this will also get social approval in near future. It is just a matter of time.”
