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“No room for unmarried couples”
This is the policy most hotels seem to work on. Although there is no law that prohibits unmarried couples from staying together, they are regularly denied rooms. At best, the reasons are flimsy and lack logic; at worst, they are judgmental and moralistic.
“I am sorry, but you do not look married, your wife does not have mangalsutra, I don’t think we can arrange a room for you.”
“Why does your surnames differ if you are married?”
“Ma’am, you have a local id, we cannot give you a room.”
OYO rooms have come to the rescue. Their app features a ‘relationship mode’ which helps users find hotels that are couple-friendly, that is, they allow unmarried couples even with local ids to check in without any hassles.
After the progressive Stay Uncle app was launched, their “Couples need a room, not a judgment” tagline created a lot of buzz. Most people welcomed the gesture, but some self-appointed custodians of ‘Indian culture’ said that it was against ‘tradition’.
Kavikrut, the Chief Growth Officer for OYO rooms, told The Quint that when they came up with this feature, their aim was just to make the process of booking a room easy.
He told us that each hotel has a different policy on the matter. “When we tie up with hotels, we know their policies, but the customers don’t, and that causes problems.”
By not making it their USP, Anurag Gaggar, VP Product for OYO rooms told The Quint that they have not digressed from their proposition of predictability, availability, accessibility and affordability.
Moral policing in Indian culture is something that we cannot ignore. Even today, couples are humiliated for hugging in public and police raids in hotels are very common.
However, Delhi Police chief spokesperson Taj Hassan told The Quint that there were no restrictions on people for staying together, with whoever they wanted to.
Kavirut told us that they have also received positive feedback and that customers are thankful for this feature.
Although the number of people using this feature is not very large, the few people who have used it, gave very positive feedback.
OYO’s move is a progressive one. Whether it will be effective against people who refuse to open their minds is yet to be seen. It is, however, a defiant answer to the ever-growing moral police, and for that, we are grateful.
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