Hotel in Alanya fined for gender discrimination!

Two men who wanted to vacation in Alanya booked a hotel through a travel agency. When the two friends, who had made an online payment, called the hotel to confirm the reservation, they learned that their booking had been canceled on the grounds that "two men cannot stay in the same room."

ON GROUNDS OF ALLEGED VIOLATION OF THE PROHIBITION OF DISCRIMINATION

The two individuals whose reservation was canceled filed a complaint with the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey (TİHEK), claiming that this situation constituted a violation of the prohibition of discrimination, noting that women were able to make reservations for two and stay at the hotel.

TİHEK requested written statements from the hotel and the travel agency. The hotel management claimed that the individuals in question had no accommodation contract with their establishment and that no contact had been made regarding the matter.

The hotel management argued that male guests could stay in rooms alone or with more than one person, that such stays had occurred previously, and that there were existing future reservations, maintaining that they provided accommodation by accepting reservations without gender discrimination in accordance with the principle of equality.

The travel agency, however, noted that because the hotel did not allow two men to stay in one room, the applicant had selected the "one man, one woman" accommodation option.

In its written statement, the agency reported that after the applicants called the facility for confirmation and were told that it was not possible for two men to stay in the same room, they contacted the hotel to try to resolve the issue, but no positive result was achieved, and the fee was refunded upon the applicant's request.

REQUESTED PAST ACCOMMODATION RECORDS

TİHEK requested from the hotel the reservation details showing that two or more men had stayed in the same room, as well as documents regarding past stays of this nature throughout the year.

Upon examining the documents received, the institution determined that in the hotel, which has a capacity of 498 rooms and 996 beds, there were only 5 reservations made by male customers, two of which were for single occupancy and the other three were arranged for two men to stay together.

The institution concluded that "the fact that a total of three stays involving two men took place throughout the year does not prove that the respondent company acts in accordance with the principle of equality in its reservation policy, but rather shows that such reservations are approved in a highly exceptional manner."

Ruling that the prohibition of discrimination based on gender had been violated, TİHEK imposed a fine of 89 thousand 571 Turkish Liras on the hotel, which is the upper limit for administrative fines under the Human Rights and Equality Institution of Turkey Law No. 6701.

EXCERPTS FROM THE TİHEK DECISION

In its decision, it was stated that everyone is equal before the law, and that Article 10 of the Constitution includes the provision: "Everyone is equal before the law without distinction as to language, race, color, sex, political opinion, philosophical belief, religion, sect, or any such grounds."

It was pointed out that the prohibition of discrimination is at the foundation of international human rights law and is specifically regulated in many international human rights conventions.

The decision emphasized that any differential treatment that prevents or makes it difficult for a person to enjoy legally recognized rights and freedoms equally compared to those in a comparable situation due to their gender constitutes discrimination based on gender.