No rooms for unwed couples in Mumbai hotels who want privacy

If you have looked at couples canoodling at Bandra Bandstand or Marine Drive and wondered why they dont just get a room the simple truth is they cant Young lovebirds in the city who cant afford fivestar hotels will find that very few four or threestar hotels are willing to give them a room if they are unmarried midday went undercover and approached 18 hotels across the city and found that most of them turned away unwed couples blaming the local cops for moral policingBizarrely the rule seems to apply only to unwed couples local to this city Unmarried couples from outside Mumbai can get a hotel room by showing their ID proof But if even one of the lovebirds is unable to provide ID to prove he or she is not from Mumbai they will be turned awayThe hotels claims that the police forbid them to give rooms to unmarried couples is all the more shocking considering the outrage such moral policing had led to in 2015 following an exposeacute by midday On August 8 2015 this paper had broken the story about how the Mumbai Police had rounded up more than 40 couples from hotels in Madh Island and Aksa humiliated them charged them for indecent behaviour and only released them after they agreed to call their parents The public furore prompted the then Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria to order the cops to leave the citys lovers aloneFour years on though not much has changed After receiving a series of complaints from readers who wished to remain anonymous two of middays reporters went undercover and visited several hotels across the city posing as a couple to check the ground reality Shockingly even hotels that had claimed to be couplefriendly on their websites refused rooms to our reportersJuhu 5stars are couplefriendlyOnly at Juhu were the reporters able to find rooms without any uncomfortable questions or moral policing However this likely is because most hotels in Juhu are fivestars which puts them out of the common mans budget anyway03No of hotels approached in the areaBad start near domestic airportOur team first visited the threestar Hotel Airport International near the domestic airport right next to the Vile Parle police station Even though rooms were available the receptionists took one look at the reporters ID cards and refused to give them roomsOur reporters were refused rooms at all but one hotel Airlink hotel in this area PicsRajesh GuptaThey said Rooms are available but we dont allow local unmarried couples as per our hotel policy and instructions from the Vile Parle police If both of you have an identity card from different cities we can permit you to stay here At our next two stops Hotel Atithi and Transit hotel all rooms were occupied but the staffers also admitted that they had been instructed by the local police to turn away unwed couplesOnly Hotel Airlink proved to be couplefriendly agreeing to provide a room as long as valid ID proof could be providedLocal copspeakThe hotels were just a few metres away from the Vile Parle police station but the cops claimed to be unaware of what was happening When middays journalists repeated what the hotel staffers had told them about police instructions against unwed lovers an officer said No such instructions were given by us It is their own policy If anyone refuses rooms despite guests providing valid IDs and meeting the age criteria we are ready to help04No of hotels visited in this area50 chance in BandraLucky hotels name only holds true for couples that are married theres no getting lucky for unwed lovers here The receptionist said Unmarried couples are not allowed However he confirmed that there were no such instructions from the police At Rangsharda hotel the staffers said We do not have any problem if valid IDs are producedWhile Lucky hotel refused to room our scribes Rangsharda proved couplefriendlyLocal copspeakThe Bandra Police said they were not aware of any instructions issued to hotels but added If they hotels are saying unmarried couples arent allowed then we should follow the rule02No of hotels visited in the areaNogo in SOBOAt the Ambassador hotel near Marine Drive a staffer said We dont allow unmarried couples with local IDs as per our hotel policy which you can also check online They refused to say whether this was on instruction from the police At the Strand a twostar hotel near the Gateway of India the receptionist clearly said We dont allow unmarried couples as per instructions from the police At Sea Palace hotel too it was the same story Local guesthouses might allow unmarried people in offered a stafferLocal copspeakThe Marine Drive police and Colaba cops both said that no such instructions had been to any hotels in their jurisdiction03No of hotels visited in the areaNo luck near international airportFrom Vile Parle the reporters headed to Andheri East to check out hotels near the international airport The first stop was at the wellknown threestar Hotel Solitaire where the staffers once again immediately closed their doors on us stating As of now no rooms are available and we dont allow unmarried couples here as per instructions from the local cops and our hotel policy Around 500 metres away our scribes got the same answer at Suba International and FabHotel Byaris International Our correspondent Anamika dialled 100 for the police helpline and a female operator said We are sending a team from the local police station After 15 minutes a woman officer from Vile Parle called and confirmed that there was no police directive against unwed couples The cops also promised to help but by then the reporters had leftWe were turned away by every single hotel we visited near the international airportLocal copspeakWhen midday called the police station a cop first told our reporters to follow what the hotel staffers said but then a senior said There are no such instructions from us its the hotels policy But you can find a lot of couplefriendly hotels online You dont need to dial the police for this03No of hotels visited in the areaLosing money in DadarAt the fourstar Midtown Pritam hotel Dadar East refusing boarding to unwed couples is proving to be bad for business The receptionist first said rooms were not available then said As per instructions from cops we dont allow unmarried couples with local IDs here We are losing business due to this but we have no choice A few metres away another fourstar mdash Ramee Guestline mdash was also fully occupied but there too the staffers said the police had issued instructions to allow only married couples to stayLocal copspeakOur team called the Matunga Police who have jurisdiction in this area and they denied issuing any instructions against lovers staying at the hotels02No of hotels visited in the areaHotel association saysThe association does not advocate any discriminatory policy with regard to allotment of rooms by hotels However individual hotels frame their own policies based on various factors As such Hotels would allow accommodation to any person subject to ruleslaw said Pradeep Shetty secretary of the Hotels and R estaurant Association Western India HRAWIMumbai Police denies any directive to hotelsMumbai Police spokeserson Manjunath Singe told midday There are no such instructions or orders given to any hotel by Mumbai Police against allowing unmarried couples with local IDs in hotelsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates