There are some very basic flaws in the way hotels/restaurants function in India. Some of the practices followed at these places are highly elitist and objectionable, which is something that needs to be changed with immediate effect. Here is a look at them.

1. Dress codes.

There is absolutely no reason why a person who does not own a certain kind of clothing item should not have the right to eat at a restaurant. Any restaurant. It’s an elitist practice that should be done away with. One can understand the need for a dress code in offices because that’s where you’d want to maintain uniformity in clothing but in restaurants, it is totally unnecessary, if not unacceptable. Having said that, even at formal places, dress codes should be applied within reason.

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2. Not letting single couples stay in the rooms.

What century are we living in, that couples can’t book rooms for themselves unless they are married? What kind of an absurd rule is this?! With chains like ‘OYO rooms’, things are changing, but imagine how bad things are that this could be a separate business idea!

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3. Not allowing unaccompanied women to book a room.

Many hotel owners will simply not give you the room if you are a woman wanting to stay alone. This is quite similar to property owners not renting their apartments to single women or doing so with hundred, dignity-slaying restrictions.

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4. Having very little to zero consideration for guests with disabilities.

For establishments so careful about “maintenance”, it’s a shame that many of them would not have even the most basic infrastructure facility for the disabled. This makes them discriminatory in nature, something that needs to be fixed as soon as possible. 

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5. Class discrimination.

In one such reported incident, a restaurant denied entry to a woman and her driver because the latter was not appropriately dressed. The woman elaborated on the same in a Facebook post, and when the restaurant was approached by the Indian Express for a quote on the matter, the staff said that “it was a rumour”. Later, though, a person who is apparently a cashier at the place, gave a statement in condition of anonymity and said, “Who gande kapde mein agaya tha, yeh baat galat hai“. 

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These practices have no place in the current day and age.