The Committee on Human Rights and Equality of the Republic of Turkey issued a decision condemning the practice of refusing to accommodate single male guests, which is quite common in Turkish hotels, Turkish media reported.
The basis for the decision was the proven case of refusal to check in two men at the L’ancora Beach Hotel in the Kemer (Antalya) region. As a result, the court fined both the hotel itself and the tour operator ETS Tour, which acted as the hotel’s services provider.
According to the Turkish edition of the Independent, two tourists booked a hotel stay and paid for the service through the travel agency ETS Tour (owned by the Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy).
However, the payment was returned to the credit card, and in the course of negotiations with ETS Tour, the tourists found out that the application was rejected only for the reason that only males were indicated in it.
After that, the tourists tried to make a reservation through the hotel’s website, but it was rejected. The letter from the hotel said that it no longer had available rooms for the indicated dates, but the tourists immediately asked their friend to book a room with the same parameters, and the hotel immediately confirmed the woman’s request.
The lawyer, with whom the tourists consulted, saw in this case signs of gender discrimination, which became the reason for applying to the Committee on Human Rights and Equality of the Republic of Turkey.
During the proceedings, representatives of the hotel insisted that there was no discrimination, and the reservation was canceled due to overbooking. They also gave examples of booking single male guests who had booked earlier.
ETS Tour, in turn, insisted that the company does not have the opportunity to influence the policy of partners, and in the contract with this hotel there is a clause according to which booking a room for one or more men is not accepted ..
As a result, the Human Rights and Equality Committee found a violation of the prohibition of gender discrimination and issued a fine of 15,000 lira (about 950 euros) to the hotel and tour operator. In addition, tourists have the right to demand compensation for moral damages.
Denial of accommodation for single men is a fairly common problem in Turkey, although it cannot be called universal. Hoteliers do not have clear explanations for such actions. There are no regulations of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism or other departments in this regard either. Tourists, especially foreign tourists, do not have the opportunity to influence such policies, observers admit. However, in the situation of a decrease in the tourist flow due to the war in Ukraine, many hotels will continue to revise their regulations in the direction of softening.