Refusing Hotel Rooms to Single Women Illegal

Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization has reiterated the illegality of refusing single women rooms at hotels and other lodging facilities.

Following reports that some establishments are still denying single women rooms, Morteza Rahmani Movahed, tourism deputy at ICHHTO, said that the regulation to ban women unaccompanied by a male relative was struck down almost two decades ago.

“The stipulation was repealed in 1999 … Refusing to rent a room to single women or denying them a stay at hotels is illegal. If single men are allowed to get a room, so are single women,” he said.

The official said his office has not received reports of women being denied rooms but urged local authorities to get in touch with the central office in Tehran should a problem arise.

Nonetheless, Iranian media report that proprietors on occasion refuse to let single women stay at their establishment fearing a reaction from the Public Places Supervision Office affiliated with law-enforcement forces.

This is while, according to ISNA, law-enforcement officials have long stated that there is no restriction on single women staying at lodging facilities.

“There is no need for a written permission from law-enforcement authorities and women don’t need to be accompanied by a male custodian,” the news agency quoted a police official as saying.  

Reports suggest that 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 this is not the case.