Indian hotel refuses room to single female traveller

A female artist was denied stay at a hotel in Hyderabad, India for being a solo female traveller.

Female artist, Nupur Saraswat, was in the city for a spoken word art performance when the Hotel Deccan Erragadda told her that "single ladies" are not allowed. The hotel based its argument saying that the area the hotel is in "is not the right place" for single women. Under hotel policies, "locals and unmarried couples" are also forbidden.

Nupur, who resides in Singapore, wrote about the incident on her Facebook page and it has since gone viral. She informed the BBC that throughout her travels in India and to many other countries she had never been refused a room on the basis of her being 'single.'

The artist said a third party website, Goibibo, which she had booked her hotel through initially refused to help but offered a refund along with a complimentary room at another hotel after her story went viral.

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In a statement published by Goibibo, a response from the hotel was included which said the hotel was "not against... single women staying in our hotel" but that the area was not appropriate for single women.

Saraswat said that when the room was booked, her organiser had not checked the policy, which clearly stated that locals, unmarried couples and single women are not allowed to stay. However, the artist said the policy itself was unacceptable. "Of course, there are also those who have tried to silence this by asking 'why are you making a fuss if it's clearly stated in the policy?' Well I am making a fuss because I am not ready to settle. I am not ready to live in the fear of my safety anymore. I am not ready to have an entire system push me around until I 'find a man to travel with'. I am not ready to be chaperoned," she wrote.