Spoken-word artist Nupur Saraswat found herself in a strange situation when a hotel in Hyderabad told her told that single women travellers are not allowed to stay their. Apparently, that's their rule.
"So, I am standing outside a hotel in Hyderabad which didn't let me stay because they realized I was a "single lady" even after confirming the online booking," the 22-year-old NRI wrote on her Facebook wall.
Saraswat wasn't okay with it. She called out the hotel and the booking site (Ibibo) on social media and questioned the policy. She requested people to share her post to get Ibibo to listen.
"Let them know that women travel solo now and we won't stay indoors "for the sake of our own safety". Ask them why they ask us our genders? What is the purpose if not to avoid this?" she wrote.
Her FB post was shared over 1,000 times and finally, Ibibo took notice.
The founder and CEO of Ibibo, Ashish Kashyap, tweeted out a statement from the booking site.
In the statement, they said they gave Saraswat an 'upgrade' and higher rated hotel and they refunded the full amount for the hotel that was booked. Ibibo also said that they have de-listed the hotel from their platform pending the investigation.
Saraswat took to Facebook to thank the people on social media for sharing her post, "You guys did this. You made a corporation listen, you took us a miniscule step closer to making solo travel a little easier for women in India."
"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," she wrote. And we couldn't agree more.
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