AiOYO! Don't erode your progressive tag

OYO, the hospitality chain of leased and franchised homestays, hotels and living spaces, has been a boon for customers and a game changer for the industry. Its reputation as a provider of quality and accessible accommodation has made it a standout entrepreneurial venture over the last decade. So, it's surprising - and disappointing - that OYO seems to have gotten into the morality business. News of its new check-in policy by which unmarried couples will apparently not be allowed to stay in OYO properties is the opposite of what the company sets out to be: progressive, internationalist. The new policy not only smacks of a 'Lalita Pawar' era of mai-baap-saas values, but also mirrors what less-reliable hotels and dodgy homestays need to comply with to stay in business.

Residents of, and visitors to, Meerut - which is being used as a beta test site for the new policy - whether married or unmarried, siblings or business partners, should find this first encounter at the reception of having to prove their marital status awkward enough for 'ease of doing business' to be affected. 'OYO is committed to upholding safe and responsible hospitality practices,' a company representative stated, adding that OYO wishes to project itself 'as a brand providing safe experience for families, students, business, religious and solo travellers'. With no Indian law prohibiting unmarried couples from staying in a hotel, how barring them from OYO spaces amounts to 'upholding safe and responsible hospitality practices' eludes circa 2025 reasoning.

Reportedly, civil society groups in other cities have also petitioned to bar non-shaadi-shudas from OYO properties. What next? Checking the sexuality of prospective customers? The religions of hubby and wife? It's a slippery slope from here. What OYO should be doing, instead, is to further facilitate their excellent services agnostically to more people, regardless of their status, marital or otherwise. Dharmshalas can cater to those complainants who should be minding their own business, not OYO's, in the first place.