Women’s Challenges in Hotel Accommodation Continue

Despite the absence of any legal prohibition against single women staying in hotels, some guesthouses and hotels still refuse to accept women without a written letter from the authorities. According to ISNA, more than two decades have passed since the cancellation of a directive that prevented women from staying in hotels, yet some guesthouses, lodges, and lower-star hotels continue to reject single women. In an interview with Morteza Narimani, the head of the Isfahan Hoteliers Union, he emphasizes that there is no legal restriction on the accommodation of single women in hotels and guesthouses. He notes that this issue has recently been communicated to all hotels in Isfahan, stating that if a female guest has valid photo identification, there should be no hindrance to her accommodation. However, Timouri, the director general of tourism services supervision and evaluation, had emphasized a year ago during the announcement of the executive guidelines for 'room reservation and cancellation in Iranian accommodation units' that the police directive on this matter has been invalid for years, and the arbitrary actions in some accommodation places stem from 'lack of awareness.' The director general stated that both the police and the Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization have no restrictions in this regard, and single women, like all citizens, can fully exercise their rights for accommodation. It remains unclear why, despite the emphasis from relevant authorities on the lack of issues regarding the acceptance of single women in accommodations, these centers continue to insist on an invalid directive. ISNA reports that despite repeated announcements regarding this matter, some accommodations in cities such as Tehran, Isfahan, Shiraz, northern regions of the country, and smaller cities still face arbitrary enforcement of this directive. Some accommodation units also possess written directives that still require them to inform the authorities about the presence of female guests who arrive alone. In 2014, when a female student was unable to return to her dormitory on time and visited several accommodation centers in Tehran, she once again faced this invalid ruling and ultimately had to spend the night without shelter at a bus terminal. This raised the question of what factors lead some accommodation centers to hesitate in implementing the main directive despite the existence of passenger registration systems connected to the authorities. Following the shocking story of that female student, Jamshid Hamzeh Zadeh, the head of the Iranian Hoteliers Association, told ISNA that, as far as he knows, the previous directive from the authorities has been invalid for years, and the new directive has also been communicated for years and should have reached all accommodation centers, thus the previous prohibition on accepting women in these centers should have been lifted. He emphasized that accommodation centers, according to the latest directive from the authorities, must accept guests even if they do not have identification documents. However, for many accommodations, the situation remains unchanged, and despite the lack of legal prohibition, a single woman may still be unable to find shelter for the night. This is particularly concerning given the lack of security in many areas and cities, which increases the risks of spending the night in parks, bus terminals, and similar places for women, raising the question of what dangers await them when they are forced to spend long hours at night, sometimes in the winter cold, on the streets while there is no legal prohibition against their presence in an accommodation.