J-K man claims Delhi hotel denied him room, owner refutes allegation
Mar 24, 2022
New Delhi [India], March 24 : In a viral video, a Kashmiri man said that he was denied a hotel room in Delhi despite booking it on an app, but the hotel administration on Thursday said the claims were not true.
In the video, from a hotel in the Jahangir Puri area of the national capital, two days back, a Kashmiri man was seen claiming that he was denied the room in spite of pre-booking it. He said that he booked it through the OYO platform. The man claimed that the hotel manager refused to provide him with the room mentioning that he has Kashmiri identity proof and Delhi Police has restrained hotels from providing accommodation to Kashmiri tourists.
Denying any such statement issued by the Delhi Police, an police official said, "We have not issued any such advisory prohibiting the hotels from accommodating Kashmiri tourists. Some miscreants are trying to malign the reputation of the Delhi Police. We will investigate the case and take appropriate action against them."
"The Kashmiri youth has posted another video on YouTube revealing that he got a room in another hotel nearby. We have seen both the videos and filed a case in the Mahindra Park police station under section 153-B(1)b of the Indian Penal Code. The investigation is in the progress," police said.
The owner of the hotel, Rakesh Kumar, talking to ANI, said that the hotel denied the room due to some technical glitch in the AC of the room.
"This matter has been presented in a misleading way. The customer had confirmed the booking through OYO. We had only one room available at the time he came for check-in, but the AC in the room was not functional. As the manager informed him about the issue, he started shouting at her. We have 10 rooms in total, and all of them are full," said Kumar.
Kumar further said, "We serve many customers from Jammu and Kashmir every year. The manager had already accepted his ID proof and initiated the formalities but because of the AC, he misbehaved with the manager and thus we had to deny him accommodation."
OYO Rooms Company issued a statement saying they would probe the matter.
"We have removed the hotel from our platform. We assure a thorough investigation in the case and highlight the reason for this behaviour by the hotel. The company does not discriminate customers on any such basis," reads the statement.
