Hotel staff showed business was more important than hospitality, says tourist

Three students and their professor, from New York's Columbia University, had a harrowing experience during their stay in a tiny South Mumbai hotel on Tuesday. Heavy rains led to cancellation of their train to Ahmedabad, forcing them to return to Hotel InterContinental, only to be told that their rooms were allegedly sold to 'politicians', the professor wrote in his Facebook post that went viral on Wednesday.

According to professor Yogi Trivedi, he had visited Mumbai with his students, Samuel Steinderger, 30, Emily Churchill, 23 and Cole Pennington, 30, to study festivals celebrated in the city.

They had allegedly booked three rooms at Hotel InterContinental from August 22 till August 29, but had extended their stay for another day, and claimed to have paid the tariff of the hotel suite for that extra day. They were scheduled to leave for Ahmedabad on August 29.

"Since it was raining heavily on Tuesday, we told the hotel staff not to give away our rooms to other customers till our check-out time was over, and left for the railway station to check on the status of our train to Ahmedabad. On reaching the station, we learnt that the trains were cancelled, so we came back to the hotel room only to find that it was double-booked and sold to a politician," Trivedi told DNA.

"We tried to reason with the staff, only to be told that the rooms had been given out and that it was the way they did business. They asked us to spend the night in the hotel lobby. Assuming we did not understand Hindi, the staff mocked us and laughed at our plight. I have taught in Columbia University regarding the hospitality of Indians, but today the hotel staff sent out a message that business is more important than hospitality," said Trivedi.

"When the entire city of Mumbai was floating in water, this fine five-star institution and it's management is double-booking and pushing out its guests to make a few thousand rupees on some rooms. My only regret? Not ever being able to talk of Indian hospitality in that light again. My image of it in this context has been shattered to pieces," Trivedi had tweeted.

Student Emily Churchill, said,"We agreed to staying in the lobby, but the hotel flatly denied us blankets and pillows, saying they did not have any to spare. They could have shown us some humanity."

Meanwhile, while responding to DNA's queries, a spokesperson of Hotel InterContinental Marine Drive, said the guests stayed till 10 pm on August 29 and checked out at the same time after settling the bills.

Asked about the claims made by Trivedi that he had made an advance for August 30, the spokesperson said, "No advance payment was received. All bills were settled at check out."