The Public Places Supervision Office (Amaken-e-Omoomi) affiliated to the Law Enforcement Forces has announced that single women and girls above the legal age can stay in all hotels across the country and “they don’t need to bring a letter of recommendation from ‘Amaken’ to get a room.”
According to the office, “any violation by hotels (of this directive) will be dealt with according to law,” said Jamshid Hamzehzadeh, head of the Iranian Hoteliers’ Association. “As all hotels are linked to the office through a confidential guest registration system, there is no need for women to get recommendation letters,” Khabaronline quoted him as saying.
“Even if they don’t carry the required documents like ID card or ‘Shenasname’ the hotels should accept them while informing the Amaken office through the system,” he said.
Earlier, single women were banned from staying in a hotel room without a letter from the office but the directive became invalid several years ago. All hotels have been notified about the new directive.
“Now, there is no difference between single men or single women in this regard,” Hamzehzadeh stressed.
But despite the fact that the new directive has been notified to the hotels, some are not complying with the order, the Persian-language government newspaper ‘Iran’ reported.
In response to a query why some hotels still refuse to accept single women, Mehdi Narimani, head of Isfahan Hoteliers Association told the newspaper, that when hotel managers suspect or have doubts about the bona fides of a person seeking accommodation, they refuse to provide them a room.
Explaining what that means, he said, for example if a single woman who is already living in Isfahan comes to stay in a hotel in the same city, the hotel manager may suspect something is wrong; therefore he may ask her to bring a letter to explain why she wants a hotel room in the city of her residence.
In Interest of Fellow Guests
At present, many hotels refuse to accept people (in particular women) who want a hotel room in a city where their ID card is issued, which is usually the place of their residence. “Such cases can create problems for hotel managers” especially if there is mala fide intent.
Mohammad Ali Farokh Mehr, head of Tehran Hoteliers’ Association says “No law prohibits hotels from renting rooms to single women; however in some cases hotel managers may suspect that someone is an addict or has run away from home, so they may refuse to accept such people without a letter, in the interest of other fellow guests.”
It doesn’t matter whether the person is a man or a woman, he stressed.
“But when there is no reason to be suspicious, hotels should provide a room,” he noted, adding that, people can report cases of violation to the Iranian Hoteliers’ Association or the Iran Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (ICHHTO).
