We’ve heard of single men not being allowed in night clubs. We’ve also read about single people (both men and women) facing trouble while looking for a place to stay in a couple of India’s metro cities. But this Hyderabad hotel seems to have taken things a bit further and has a policy that doesn’t only not allow unmarried couples, but also single women. And unfortunately for Singapore-based thespian Nupur Saraswat, this fact came as a rude shock to her as she was trying to check into the hotel, which she had already booked through travel booking site Goibibo.
Saraswat recounts her harrowing experience in a post on June 24:
So, I am standing outside a hotel in Hyderabad which didn’t let me stay because they realized I was a “single lady” even after confirming the online booking. Yup, massive bag in hand, gross from the journey – just standing outside the hotel. Somehow they decided I was safer on the streets than in the hotel.
Funny huh, how patriarchy works?
#HyderabadSaga
The post immediately went viral, and within hours it had been shared and liked thousands of times. She even posted a series of tweets on Twitter, recounting her experience and complaining to the booking service. The hotel in question is the Hotel Deccan Erragadda, and Goibibo had confirmed Saraswat’s booking despite her filling in the details for a single-occupancy, female traveller.
When asked in one of the comments to her post, she even posted the Hotel Policies page as a response.
Taking note of her complaint, the Goibibo gave Saraswat a refund, a complimentary upgrade to a different hotel and – according to a note on their website – “de-listed the Hotel Deccan Erragadda from our platform pending the investigation. We are taking up with local authorities/ police and hotel management for the rationale behind such policies.”
The hotel, in an email to Goibibo, said their policy was apparently in accordance to “police interaction”, as the area was apparently not “right” for single women.
As a follow up, Saraswat too addressed those concerned with her Hyderabad saga with a social media update.
Well, Saraswat – who is in India with her production Two Sanskari Girls, a spoken-word tale of two women from opposite sides of the world, told through theatrical poetry, song and movement – certainly seems to have shaken things up in the travel space for single women in a positive way for sure. Raising the concern for all solo women travellers, her action has now hopefully led to a policy change for the better.