Compromised values: Oyo's decision to discriminate opens Pandora's box

The Oyo hotel franchise has said that a new policy will apply to those checking in to its hotels in the Uttar Pradesh town of Meerut, one that it plans to roll out elsewhere as well. Essentially, the policy aims to prevent unmarried couples from checking into an Oyo franchisee unless they possess “valid proof” of their relationship. Naturally, it is far from clear what valid proof of a relationship, short of a marriage certificate, could even be. This is the sort of poorly thought out policy that essentially serves purely as a route for harassing travellers by check-in staff and the local authorities. The company itself has made it clear that it is on the demands of “local civil society” that these changes have been made. Giving into such demands, however, will only embolden the local morality police in such regions. As with the censorship of films and television, political entrepreneurs will realise they can move upwards in local hierarchies by demonstrating that they have the ability to force national brands to bow to their will. Oyo has opened Pandora’s box by giving “civil-society groups” the ability to determine how it creates its own policies.

 

There is, therefore, a general question with which Oyo or any other company facing the demands of local authorities or civil-society organisations in a particular place must grapple. How does this affect pan-Indian operations? Operating in one area of the country might lead it to make compromises to the values underlying its business that would hurt its ability to operate elsewhere. At this point in time, the policy applies only to one small city in Uttar Pradesh; but the promise to extend it has been made as well. If it catches on, does Oyo expect all those booking a stay in one of its branded properties to check the specific restrictions applicable to that particular area in terms of who is allowed to check in and what documentary support they must provide? Will this not decrease trust in the brand elsewhere in the country? After all, the implicit promise of all such hospitality brands is that they provide a similar seamless experience even in a strange area or town. A larger question, therefore, has been raised by this issue, however, that pertains not just to Oyo or even the hospitality sector but to many pan-Indian businesses.

 

How businesses deal with such issues, which will increasingly be on their radar, will determine their longevity and popular image. Zomato, the online food-delivery app, has dealt with problems in the past when some of its customers have asked for delivery riders of the same religion, or its employees have objected to delivering non-vegetarian dishes of various kinds. It has largely ignored these demands; last year, however, it floated the idea of a fleet of riders meant for vegetarian food that would wear green instead of the usual red livery. This idea was swiftly withdrawn, with the company’s leadership admitting it would be “on-ground segregation”. Such emotive issues are bound to emerge as India’s services economy expands. The only way to deal with it effectively, companies will discover, is to find some sort of core values that underlie their business model — the promise of safe, accessible, and comfortable lodging, for example — and to hold to that regardless of local political pressures.