Even as Mumbai drowned on the night of 29 August and reports of Mumbaikars lending a helping hand to each other abounded, guests at the five-star InterContinental Marine Drive Mumbai had a very different story to tell. Adjunct Professor at Columbia Journalism School, Yogi Trivedi took to social media to share how he, along with some others, were thrown out of their rooms by the hotel management to make place for four politicians and their retinue.
The guests had no choice but to spend the night in the lobby with the hotel refusing to even provide them with sheets or towels. When Trivedi confronted the management, the General Manager told him point blank that it was all about revenue and that this was how the InterContinental Mumbai operates. Check out his post here:
Veteran journalist Vir Sanghvi tagged InterContinental Marine Drive on Twitter asking them to respond to the allegation. The hotel has not responded yet. Sanghvi also shared how the hotel had done the same thing during the 2005 Mumbai floods.
The Quint reached out to Hotel InterContinental via e-mail seeking their response to Trivedi’s allegation. Here is the reply:
The city has experienced a heavy downpour since early hours of Tuesday, and like everyone else in Mumbai, our hotel has also been affected. Under the current circumstances, safety and comfort of our guests and colleagues is top priority for us. Our team is working persistently to make sure all our guests feel safe and as comfortable as possible. We can confirm that no politicians were staying at our hotel during the night in question.
Spokesperson, InterContinental Marine Drive
This was what happened according to InterContinental Marine Drive.
Mr Trivedi and the accompanying guests had a great stay at the
hotel during the week of the 22nd of August. On the 29th of August, he amended
his check out till 10 pm of the same date, which was accommodated. Upon check
out the guest paid the due charges, including the half day charges for 29th
August which he had used, and was given a receipt for the same. Unfortunately,
the train services for the guests’ onward journey were suspended when he
reached the railway station. The guest and his colleagues came back to the
hotel, at which stage, the hotel was genuinely sold out and could not
accommodate rooms for their stay. We have confirmed that there is no
reservation confirmation or record of commitment stating that rooms had been
booked for the guest again, post their check out. While there were no
politicians that were accommodated last minute that night, it was not possible
to remove sleeping guests from their rooms to accommodate Mr Trivedi. Given the
weather outside, the hotel staff tried it’s best to accommodate all the guests
in the hotel’s lobby overnight, and made them feel safe and as comfortable as
possible. The guests were also offered refreshments in the lobby, on a
complimentary basis. At 8 am the following morning, the guests were offered a
complimentary breakfast and a complimentary room thereafter to freshen up
before their departure from Mumbai. We hope this clarifies the situation.
Spokesperson, InterContinental Marine Drive
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