HYDERABAD: Days after a 22-year-old NRI woman Nupur Saraswat was denied stay at Hotel Deccan by its staff on grounds of her being single, popular travel portal that has a tie up with the hotel for online bookings has now delisted the hotel while tendering an apology to the woman.
The woman had booked her accommodation at Hotel Deccan located in Erragadda from Singapore through Goibibo portal. On June 24, around 8.30 am, Nupur arrived at the hotel but the staff denied her accommodation in spite of the prior booking. She posted about the incident on social networking sites stating ‘single woman are not allowed to stay in Hyderabad hotels’.
As Nupur’s posts on social networking sites went viral, the Goibibo management tendered apologies and provided alternative accommodation to woman in another hotel as complementary.
“Recently, one of our customers raised an issue about being denied check-in by Hotel Deccan, as she was a single woman. We take such issues very seriously backed with action. We want to share with the entire community about the actions that we are taking. We gave Nupur an upgrade and higher rated hotel, complementary. We refunded the full amount for the hotel that was booked. We have de-listed the Hotel Deccan, Erragadda from our platform pending the investigation. We are taking up the issue for the rationale behind such policies,”Goibibo management said.
Manager of Hotel Deccan P Ganesh told Express that they denied accommodation to Nupur Saraswat keeping in mind her security. “The hotel management has taken such decision to prevent untoward incidents,” Ganesh added.Meanwhile, the Hotels and Restaurants Association of Telangana State (HRATS), which represents the three star to five star deluxe hotels and first class restaurants in Telangana, have declared that Hotel Deccan is not a part of HRATS.
“Most of our hotels have specific standard operating systems and procedures especially for single lady guests with specific attention to their comfort and their safety and security. Our hotel members do have many such corporate lady guests for single lady guests,” the association members said.