The challenge of getting into a posh hotel

In his superb book Maximum City, Suketu Mehta has an insightful passage about the challenge of entering The Taj hotel in Mumbai:

[The Taj] is less a hotel than a proving ground for the ego. The Taj lobby and its adjoining toilets are where you test your self-worth; theoretically, anyone can come in out of the heat and sit in the plush lobby, on the ornate sofas, amid the billionaire Arabs and the society ladies, or relieve themselves in the gleaming toilets. But you need that inner confidence to project to the numerous gatekeepers, the toilet attendants; you need first to convince yourself that you belong there, in order to convince others that you do. And then you realize that the most forbidding gatekeeper is within you. [Link]

Very true, but you may need more than inner confidence to get into some hotels. You may also need the right attire and skin color, even if you happen to be a person of great achievement, even if you happen to have won the Nobel Peace Prize.

She was wearing a Mayan dress, the traditional attire of indigenous people in central America, and the hotel's response was also traditional: throw her out.

Staff at Cancun's five-star Hotel Coral Beach appear to have assumed this was another street vendor or beggar, so without asking questions they ordered her to leave. Except the woman was Rigoberta Menchú, the Nobel peace prizewinner, Unesco goodwill ambassador, Guatemalan presidential candidate and figurehead for indigenous rights.

The attempted eviction, an example of discrimination against indigenous people common in central and south America, backfired when other guests recognised Ms Menchú and interceded on her behalf.

The human rights activist was in the Mexican coastal resort at the request of President Felipe Calderón to participate in a conference on drinking water and sanitation and was due to give interviews at the hotel.[Link]

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Just before the attempted eviction, the manager gave a call to the doorman:

Manager: "Manuel, Senora Menchú will be arriving soon. Make sure you give her the royal treatment. Did you get some flowers for her?"

Doorman: "Not yet, Senor. I will get them as soon as I get rid of this street woman."

Manager: "Street woman?"

Doorman: "Yes, Senor, she claims she was invited here by President Calderón. I told her she's crazy. She says she's ..."

Manager: "You idiot! Senora Menchú was invited here by President Calderón! You know what that means?"

Doorman: "Yes, of course I do, Senor. It means that Senora Menchú is very, very important."

Manager: "No, you idiot! It means President Calderón will be very upset if he hears you were talking to a street woman instead of preparing for Senora Menchú's arrival."

Comments

[Sanjay]

Very true - the most forbidding gatekeeper is within you. Just like in so many other areas of life (work, sports, dating, etc), if you believe you belong, you will radiate the confidence and will feel confortable. Taking about the Taj, 5 years ago while visiting the Gateway of India, we decided to have lunch at the hotel restaurant and i observed that they had more guards than any other hotel i have been to - I felt the guards main role was to keep non-guests out (they did not seem to be security experts). By the way, it was the best lunch i ever had at a restaurant, and it only cost $13 for 2 people.

[Melvin Durai]

Sanjay: I loved eating out in India, partly because prices seemed so reasonable compared to what we pay here. Of course, $13 is more than 500 rupees. Not a small amount for the average person.