Woman alleges JW Marriott, Aerocity held her hostage over bill; hotel denies allegations

PTI, Apr 26, 2023, 9:48 AM IST

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A 55-year-old woman, who works as a legal advisor for a women business organisation, has accused the staff of JW Marriott Hotel in Aerocity of holding her hostage for hours and harassing her when she complained of poor services and sought time to settle the hotel bill.

The hotel has denied all allegations as baseless.

”The JW Marriott New Delhi Aerocity strongly refutes the allegations made against the hotel in the concerned matter and are cooperating with the relevant authorities in their investigation,” a spokesperson from JW Marriott told PTI.

The spokesperson further said, “We operate with the highest levels of integrity, ethics and values that extend to all our partners, associates and guests. Given the matter is currently being handled by the police, we are unable to provide any further information.” The woman, who doesn’t want to be named, said in her complaint to police that the hotel staff verbally berated her and held her captive under the watch of two male employees, who constantly followed her in the hotel.

”Even when I went to the lavatory, they kept waiting outside,” she wrote in her complaint, based on which the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport Police Station lodged an FIR.

According to the FIR, written in Hindi, the dispute arose over payment of a bill for an event held on December 26, 2022 for which the organisation had booked 94 rooms and halls in the hotel. The firm paid Rs 55 lakh in advance for holding the event which was attended by people from different parts of the country and abroad.

When the event concluded on December 31, 2022, the organisers complained of poor service and food quality.

However, the firm made another payment of Rs 25 lakh on December 31 and told the hotel it would pay the remaining sum on January 1, 2023 after checking all the bills and adjusting the advance amount.

The complainant alleged in the FIR that there were some discrepancies in the room tariff and her organisation had sought time to check bills thoroughly as it had already paid 80 per cent of the bill.

”We had 30 rooms booked till January 1 and we requested them to allow us to make the remaining payment by January 1 but they held me and some other organisers hostage and didn’t allow us to leave the hotel,” she said in the FIR.

She said it was only after she dialled 1091, a helpline number of Delhi Police for women in distress, that a Sub Inspector was dispatched to the hotel and she was let go of by the hotel staff.

”It was only at 12.10am that I was allowed to leave for home. The hotel staff detained me illegally for several hours and harassed me the whole time,” she said.

She has also alleged that during the event one of the chefs of the hotel deliberately touched her in an inappropriate manner for which she scolded him and he left.

”I don’t know his name but if he comes in front of me, I can recognise him,” she said.

The woman told PTI that the police did not file an FIR in the matter till April 11, even though the incident took place December last year.

However, according to the IGI police, they needed her to clarify some of the points in her initial complaint but she was too busy to come to the station, and when she did visit it on April 11, they filed an FIR.