Following reports that some hotels have been turning single women away by coming up with excuses to refuse service, the president of the Iranian Hoteliers’ Association has vocally criticized hotel owners for breaking the law.
“This is a clear violation of the law and no hotel has the right to refuse service to single women,” Jamshid Hamzezadeh was quoted as saying in an article in the Persian language newspaper Qanoun.
Reports have been circulating that many hotels across the country use all manners of excuses not to give rooms to single or divorced women who may need a safe place to stay for a few nights, the article said.
This clear discrimination has forced many women who prefer to travel alone to stay in vacation rentals, which are private establishments not managed or monitored by government bodies. In other words, women’s safety cannot be guaranteed in such facilities.
“This trend of turning women away due to their marital status is a matter of taste (of the hotel owner) and has no legal basis whatsoever,” Hamzezadeh said. “We’ve repeatedly denounced this and urged the people to report hotels that refuse service to single women.”
“If a woman has valid identification, she has a right to a hotel room,” he continued.
Hotels turn women away for a variety of reasons; some claim that many are addicts, while others say the women could be on the run. Both of which can also be used as excuses to deny rooms to men, but neither is.
There is no law that allows hotel owners to refuse rooms to single women.
