When the stars don't shine

A good night’s sleep - that’s all you need when you’re on a business trip and check into your 3 or 5 star hotel room. What if you are bitten by bed bugs through the night? Poor pest control is just one possible item on your list of woes in even the best hotels and resorts. Insipid food, delayed room service, slipshod house keeping, ‘Do Not Disturb’ violation and billing bloopers are far from uncommon. A complaint to the hotel will invariably elicit shock and denial in that order, and if you can marshal evidence, a feeble oral apology.

Most hotels are known to thrust a feedback form while the check out formalities are underway, which I’ve always suspected, is more as an insurance against complaints. Many of us would be generous in our assessment to please the staff at the counter. Be wary of what you fill in. If the hotel says ‘sorry’ and refunds your payment or gives you a discount, insist on a written version.

The National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission in C. Venuprasad & Others Vs Narangs International Hotel Pvt. Ltd held that an ‘act of a refund of some amount with expression of regret, indirectly amounts to an admission of their failure to provide the requisite service.” Deficiency in service entitles you to compensation in a consumer forum.

Accidents caused due to negligence by the hotel like the case of a bath tub that had a hazardous design, are actionable under the Consumer Protection Act. In Vinay Rajkumar Rajpal Vs Park Hyatt Goa Resort & Spa, the Goa State Commission minced no words about the duties of star establishments.

“A five star guest is entitled to five star facilities and when it comes to compensation, it cannot be peanuts. It should also be of five star flavor. It should match the status of the guest as well as that of the hotel. The stars assigned are suggestive of the professional expertise, achievement and quality of the services projected by it to the public.”

Some hotel owners who think they are being clever by putting up cautionary sign boards in front of elevators should read this judgment of the Goa Commission. It goes on to observe that “the validity of an invitation to avail and enjoy a service and legal consequences including duty to take care and its degree flowing therefrom cannot be permitted to be softened by a general ‘at your own risk’ notice.”

But one notice that harps on the ‘right of admission reserved’ has an in built regressive window to turn away or evict or embarrass unmarried couples. There is no legal bar on consenting adults checking into a hotel room. The Supreme Court in S. Khushboo Vs Kaniammal had ruled that “there is no statutory offence that takes place when adults willingly engage in sexual relations outside the marital setting, with the exception of adultery.”

The apprehension borders on ‘what if they do something illegal?’. Why, can’t married couples also do 'something illegal’?

The hospitality industry is known to hardsell especially during off peak seasons. So what if a deluxe room is palmed off as a suite? The West Bengal State Commission in Samar Roy Choudhury Vs Hotel New Sea Hawk held that such instances are “either a lapse or a motivated act in the nature of a deceitful ploy to attract customers.” In consumer law parlance, it’s an unfair trade practice.

Whether you make a reservation online through a travel portal or directly with the hotel and pay an advance or hundred per cent upfront, as some places insist, a fairly common stance adopted when a cancellation request comes in, is ‘no refund’.

The argument that refund means loss of business from others who were turned away due to the reservation was not accepted by the Punjab State Commission in Hotel Fortune Klassic Vs K.L. Dhawan. It ruled that “simply printing the words ‘non refundable’ on receipts is not sufficient to prove that these amounts were non-refundable. A party cannot be allowed to retain the amount received by them for which no service was provided by it.”

The same rationale will apply to cancellation of booking at marriage halls in this wedding season. No one will cancel a reception unless there’s a valid reason. Hotels cannot expect a return gift when there is no party.

(Sanjay Pinto is a lawyer, columnist & author)