The change in hotel policy highlights the struggles faced by single couples seeking privacy in India

Traveling can be difficult for single couples who want a little privacy in India.

Accommodations often refuse to allow this growing segment of people to share rooms – especially those looking to book a hotel in the city where they already live.

That is why the policy change of a budget booking platform in a small town in India has attracted a lot of attention both inside and outside the country.

It all started in early January, when OYO Rooms issued “new entry instructions” for its partner accommodation in the northwestern city of Meerut, about 50 kilometers (80 miles) from Delhi. their understanding.

The move drew immediate criticism online, as the brand has already portrayed itself as a safe haven for single couples.

“When they launched that was their whole tagline, ‘no questions asked,’ so everyone knows OYO’s mission: it’s not just a chain of hotels but a hotel for couples who want privacy,” a 25-year-old media professional who booked with OYO in Delhi told the -CNN on condition of anonymity.

Unlike in many countries, where it is common for unmarried couples to share a room, Indian culture still strongly opposes this practice.

OYO, launched in 2012, was one of the first platforms to offer a solution to this growing group of travelers, branding hotels as “couple-friendly” on its app and website. Other startups like Stay Uncle, Brevistay and Nestaway have since followed in OYO’s footsteps and are offering hourly rooms and rental properties that ensure safe access for single couples.

Many view OYO’s turn, however small, as a sign of the ongoing conflict between traditional Indian values ​​and a progressive, modern society.

“We usually think that privacy is a right to be left alone or without interference or intervention but in Indian culture, that is actually at odds with our culture, which is very much focused on collaboration,” said Shagufa Kapadia, a professor in the Department of Humanities. Development and Family Studies and director of the Research Center for Women’s Studies at India’s Maharaja Sayajirao University of Baroda.

OYO said its decision, which is specific to Meerut, is a response to “the feedback OYO has received in the past from civil society” in the area.

“While we respect individual freedom and personal freedom, we recognize our responsibility to listen and work with civil society organizations in the small markets we operate in,” said Pawas Sharma, OYO’s regional head for North India, in a statement announcing the policy change. .

Family versus couple

OYO’s 2024 ad plays on the company’s existing reputation as a platform that offers rooms to single couples seeking privacy and intimacy.

In the commercial, a married couple is seen telling their parents that they have booked an OYO room and that their family should accompany them to “have fun together,” prompting shocked looks at the dinner table.

The ad then relays to a family in an OYO hotel in a voice-over: “Not really that OYO Hotel.” Many social media users considered the video, and the recent move in Meerut, as OYO’s efforts to rebrand itself as family-friendly.

According to Kapadia, the family arrangement has always come before the couple, and even after marriage the privacy given to couples is “conditional.”

OYO’s recent decision to allow hotels to evict unmarried couples in Meerut can be seen as a way to please the community they serve, he added.

Kapadia noted that religious and right-wing groups often abuse institutions by doing things that seem dangerous to Indian society, such as providing rooms for single couples in small towns like Meerut, located in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh (UP).

UP is ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and is led by Chief Minister Ajay Singh Bisht, whose name is Yogi Adityanth and who often wears a saffron robe similar to that worn by Hindu saints.

“Apart from civil society organizations, it is now the state that interferes in private lives, which has emerged as a father character in a society that already has patriarchs who keep raising their children, especially women, as a means of control,” said Kapadia.

CNN has contacted the district administration in Meerut for a response.

Meanwhile, hoteliers in Meerut who have been affected by the new check-in guidelines seem to have mixed views.

“I have nothing to say about whether this policy is good or bad. The only thing is that we don’t want to point fingers at us, we don’t want any organizations or public organizations to knock on our doors and ask why we let such couples in,” said the manager of one of the 21 hotels. listed at OYO in the city, spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity.

Concerns about LGBT Indians

The owner of another hotel in Meerut, who did not want to be named, told CNN that it is up to him who he allows to stay in his hotel and that unmarried couples are not welcome.

“Not at all. We don’t allow it. We don’t want anyone to use it as a bad thing. That’s not right,” he said.

“My hotel. I have the right to choose who I let him in. It doesn’t matter if they have a booking on OYO or any other travel website, these are my prices.”

Although the owner specifies that single out-of-town couples may be able to stay there in “exceptional” circumstances, he will not tolerate locals thinking that any single couple will be using the hotel for sex.

This is disappointing news for same-sex couples, who cannot legally marry in India.

Even being able to find a hotel room does not mean that a same-sex couple can sleep easily.

A 25-year-old woman from Delhi identifies as bisexual. He says that even in OYO hotels, judgment cannot be avoided. Where he stayed recently, he says, “my relationship looked like a little child so even though we are two girls it was obvious and you could see (the hotel staff) having a problem with it.

“There was a stain on the bed so we complained and the staff just said ‘What’s going to happen? You have to stay, right? There is a sofa; you can stay there,’” he added.

If hotels listed on the OYO platform are free to deny accommodation to unmarried couples in a small city like Meerut, people seeking privacy will be left with nowhere, he added.

“I live with my family. I just can’t bring someone. In India it is normal for people, especially women, to continue living with their families until they get married,” she said. While in Delhi there may be alternatives, he believes that in cities like Meerut there are none.

However, one Meerut hotel owner told CNN that despite the new policy, his rooms will remain accessible to all couples.

“Until there are high court orders that say, you cannot take action against any couple as long as they are adults, there can be no such policy, there is nothing that OYO can do about that,” said Mukesh Gupta, the owner of the Hotel. IO Subhadra Residency, one of the top rated OYO hotels in the city. His hotel is still marked as “double friendly” on the app and website.

This problem is unlikely to go away. As the world develops, it is more common for couples to live together before marriage or to seek acquaintances away from their families.

“At the beginning of our relationship, OYO was a big help to us because I don’t know how we would have managed it at that time,” said Terrance, 28, who did not want to use his last name regarding his relationship. and his female partner.

Although the couple now live together, they lived with family for most of their seven-year relationship.

Terrance says OYO’s latest move makes him worry for the safety of other couples in similar situations.

“If they don’t have a choice, sometimes it can end in a bad way, they can look for a shady place and it ends up being bad,” he said.

Kapadia, the professor, agreed that couples will always find ways to be together but the lack of safe spaces causes tragedy, especially for women who have the false responsibility of carrying the honor of the family.

“In India, parks are a place that many couples use to bond and everyone knows about it and it’s okay to a certain extent, but police or park rangers often take that opportunity to harass young couples as they know they are probably together. without their parents’ knowledge,” he said.

Rights of singles

As Gupta pointed out that in India there are no laws that prevent unmarried couples from staying together in hotels, in their cities or in other places. Despite this, hotel owners continue to deny them rooms, in several cases with the support of the police or government authorities.

In 2015, the police raided many hotels and hostels near Mumbai, and rounded up a large number of couples. In that case, the Bombay High Court said that “the action of the police clearly violates the right to privacy protected by the Constitution of India and is part of the right to life guaranteed by Article 21 of the Constitution of India.” Constitution of India.”

In 2019, a similar case hearing by another Madras high court also held that “there are no rules or regulations preventing unmarried persons of the opposite sex from occupying hotel rooms, as guests.”

When contacted for further clarification on their new policy in Meerut, OYO declined to comment.

Apart from the impact on Indians’ right to privacy, Kapadia is also concerned about the long-term effects on tourism in the country.

“In many countries, couples choose to spend their lives together outside of marriage, so if hotel owners start denying them rooms, it will not always be an attractive place,” he said.

However, hotel owner Gupta said that the lodges that chose to deny the couples were likely to cater to those with local ID.

After leaving OYO, Tejas Gowda, a member of the Hindu Hindu group Bajrang Dal, told reporters last week that he had urged the police commissioner and authorities in Bengaluru, India’s technology hub, to implement a similar “law” banning singles. couples sharing hotel rooms.

“We must respect the culture of our country,” he said. “By allowing unmarried couples inside the rooms, there are many illegal activities taking place within the state and the country.”

These are the very demands that scare the 25-year-old.

“According to the Constitution, we have the right to privacy,” he said. “Why are we closing all the doors through which these people can enter? Why is it someone else’s decision what people do in private in a hotel room?”

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com