Are you worried about the experience you’ll have when you check-in to a hotel stating that you are a couple?

You shouldn’t be, as long as you have done your homework before booking the hotel! It’s not a sin, it’s not a crime and palpably it’s not something to be ashamed of. There is nothing wrong in wanting to spend some quality time with your loved one. Unfortunately, we live in a society where moral police can pop-up anytime with their moral lectures. Even though we live in an era where good part of the society is educated and open-minded, we still come across some who are orthodox in nature and will judge you for the things you wish to do.

Ideally, that shouldn’t stop one from doing what they want or wish to do. Especially when the constitution of India gives the freedom of choice of life and along with that you have the supreme court’s verdict stating that live-in relationships are now recognized by the legislature. Moreover, there is no law which prohibits two adults from staying in a hotel room. The News Minute.

Some of the advocates have also reinstated the same. "There is no law that prohibits unmarried couples from staying together in hotels. Choosing to stay together is a personal choice and falls under freedom of movement, which cannot be restricted," says senior advocate Sudha Ramalingam. The Hotel Association of India (HAI), is an apex body for the hotel industry. They have also added saying "We are not aware of any such rules," says an HAI’s spokesperson, Bharat Bhushan.

Stigma

Social stigmas still continue to exist. As Bruhat Bangalore Hotel Association member points out “For what purpose does a man and a woman, both unmarried, want to live in a hotel room?,"- The News Minute.
It’s not the hotel’s cruel policies or it’s not that the hotel is not willing to. Their concern in lending a room to an unmarried couple is the existing social stigma and the same fear of getting judged. They do understand the importance of couple bookings in their business. Families would travel once in a year but couples would want to stay together often. So there is a lot of potential for hoteliers in making their hotel couple friendly.
But that doesn’t mean that the whole chunk of society is still judgemental and don’t understand the fact that couples need privacy. Moreover, in this fast-moving world, everybody is as busy as a beaver. People don’t really have time to sit and judge others.
So you need to realize that it is not illegal to get a room in a hotel and spent some time with your partner. But having a cautious approach will be the wise step to take.
How can you safely book a hotel without getting into any hassles?
The smart move is to book through online travel agents. Because they will have accountability for your experience. Also, the smarter move is only booking for the time you need. So that you pay less, have a good experience and get value for money. Hourly hotel booking is one of the newest things in the hotel industry
Nowadays there are many online travel agents who are trying to solve this problem and help couples to have some quality time in private. These online sites are more user-friendly and all you need to do is make a booking.

Things we need to take care before booking

Couple friendly Hotels
You'll find variety of hotels listed in online travel portals. Not all of them would accept unmarried couples. So first and foremost you need to filter out all the hotels which are couple friendly.
For example, at MiStay, you can even find couple friendly hotels for a few hours. While you are in the website you’ll find many filter tabs. One of them is the couple friendly tab, you can click on it to find the hotels which allow couples. This way you don’t have to worry about the acceptance of you being a couple. Because all the couple friendly hotels won’t have any problem with your check-in.

Local Id Proof
You are considered to have a local id if the address in your ID proof is of the same city as that of the hotel. Also both the person should carry their ID proofs as it is a mandatory policy followed across the country. It’s easy nowadays to get a room for a couple, but the challenging part is finding a couple friendly hotel with local ID acceptance not being an issue. Often hoteliers fear the fact that if they allow locals to stay, in their vicinity they will be known as the couple-oriented hotels and they might lose on other family guests. That is one one the reasons why most hotels do not allow unmarried couples with local Ids to check-in.

Age Limit
The standard Hotel policies state that to be eligible for getting a room you need to be of 18 years old or above. But some hotels only allow those who are above 21. So it’s better to have a quick glance at the hotel’s policy before you head to the hotel.
If you have the above things sorted then you are ready to go.

How do you ensure safety?
Because the hotels are tied-up with the online portals stating they are couple friendly hotels, they need to make sure that they have rooms with privacy. And to be on safer side book properties with more than 3 stars, because those hotels have their own reputation to take care of and hence there won’t be anything for you to be concerned about.