How friendly are OYO rooms in Tamilnadu to unmarried couples?

The society in Tamil Nadu is still conservative as such and therefore to expect all Hotel owners to welcome unmarried couples into their Hotels would be unfair and unjust. The Hotels are well within their right to deny admission to any such categories of persons that they deem fit. However, having said that, it is established law that every person in India has the right to life and personal liberty. As such, there is no embargo on unmarried couples having relationships or hiring a hotel room for the privacy and protection of the Hotel establishment. This has also been affirmed by a judgement of the Madras High Court in My preferred Transformation and Hospitality Private Limited vs. District Collector, Coimbatore. In so far as OYO is concerned, it is a hotel aggregator and as such, it only lists private hotels along with the hotel’s policy with respect to the admission or denial of admission of unmarried couples. If any person tries to hire a room in contravention of the hotel policy, the hotel has every right to deny them admission into their establishment. Therefore, it is most important that any patron seeking services from such establishment must go through the Hotel policies listed on sites like OYO and other Hotel aggregator websites before deciding upon which hotel’s services they want to avail.

Moreover, in cases where a hotel finds that the Patron is in contravention of its Hotel Policy; but the Patron’s actions are not per se illegal in the eyes of the law, for example the occupation of a hotel room by an unmarried couple in an establishment where the same is not allowed, the maximum recourse that the Hotel may take is to remove the Patrons from the occupation of the rooms and the Police ought not to have any role or jurisdiction in such cases.

In cases where the police decide to intervene, unless there is suspicion that the Patrons were indulging in an act of prostitution, or either one or both of the partners are underage or other illicit activities, the involvement of the Police is absolutely illegal. In such a case, the Patrons shall have the recourse to demand the initiation of departmental enquiry as against the erring officers. At the first instance, such unmarried couples shall have to attempt explain their relationship and establish their age and attempt to convince the police that they are not indulging in any illicit activities.

In such a case that a hotel policy has no express clauses as against unmarried couples, if the couple faces any harassment or humiliation at the hands of the Hotel authorities, such couples shall have recourse as against such hotels before the Consumer Forum. In such a case, the Hotel aggregator like OYO can also be pulled into the suit and it can be demanded that both these organizations pay damages to such couples who trusted the information provided on such websites and availed the services of such Hotels.

To provide clarity, there is no law as against the hiring of a hotel room by unmarried couples. Similarly, there is no law barring a hotel from denying admission to unmarried couples. The rights of both the couples and the hotel with respect to their liberty is protected by law. As such, there ought not to be any involvement of the Police in such matters unless there is a suspicion of illegal activities or crimes being carried out by the Patrons.

Author –
Rahul J Krishnan

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