On 29 February, I booked a hotel room through the OYO app for Silverkey Executive Stays 45844 at Indore, Madhya Pradesh, for two guests. I checked in to the hotel around 10:30 pm in the night, and my partner arrived shortly after. He then presented his identity proof at the reception for check-in but after looking at his ID, he was denied entry at the hotel.
The reason he was denied entry was because he was a Muslim and I, a Hindu.
The hotel said it does not allow interfaith couples to stay. We had a long heated argument with the receptionist and the staff. We demanded to speak to the manager.
When the manager finally appeared, I asked him on what grounds the hotel was denying us the room. “How can you discriminate somebody on the basis of religion or gender?”
The manager informed us that he had received strict instructions from the local police not to allow interfaith couples to stay at the hotel. Even if they allowed it, it would be problematic for the hotel.
I demanded that he to show me the document stating the order. On hearing this, he asked me to go to the police station and enquire about order. After explaining ourselves to the staff and the manager, at around 11 pm, we were asked to leave the hotel premises with no solution and nowhere to go.
The manager refused to provide us with any solution or refund at that moment. He asked us to leave the hotel in the middle of the night. I was furious at this kind of behaviour.
The very next day, on 1 March, I called up the OYO customer care number. OYO assured me that they would raise a complaint and find a solution. However, I was merely given a refund, there was no formal apology or assurance of strict action.
I just want to make people aware that no law in India should discriminate against you on the basis of your religion. What happened with me should not happen with anyone else. Please be aware about your rights and nobody has the right to behave this way with anyone.
The Quint reached out to OYO for a response. In their email, OYO stated:
“We do not tolerate any form of discrimination across all our hotels.
In the event that any such instance is reported, an inquiry is initiated into the matter immediately. In the event that any asset owner or employee is found to be guilty of a discriminatory act, immediate action is initiated against such asset owners or employees including but not limited to disciplinary actions against the employee, termination of the agreement with an asset owner or delisting of such hotels from the OYO ecosystem.
Any act that is tantamount to discrimination is a serious violation of the basic principles of OYO's business ethics and applicable laws. We have already initiated an inquiry into the matter.”
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