Kanika Datta: A driver at the social crossroads

SWOT

Most companies price and advertise their goods and services in such a manner that they automatically include some buyers and exclude others. But can they actually stipulate that they won't sell to certain buyers because it might upset others?

In the case of physical goods and a host of services, the answer is: obviously not. But what of hotels, restaurants and clubs? Most such service establishments put up signs reserving rights of admission, which certainly covers them legally. The question is how far such institutions will go towards leveraging this legal cover to follow exclusionary practices.

Recently a travel agent from the US, a regular visitor to India for many years, faced a situation at the Rambagh Palace in Jaipur that raises precisely this issue. Ms Toni Neubauer, who runs a company called Myths and Mountains, chose to write a letter to the management of the Taj, which manages the property, because the incident struck her as, in her own words, "unpleasant and morally reprehensible".

On March 7, Ms Neubauer and four colleagues from a voluntary organisation she runs in Asia had driven into Jaipur after a long and hot day that began at 5 a m. To quote from her letter to the Taj management, "I thought it would be nice to take everyone to one of the key monuments of the city "" the Rambagh Palace "" for dinner. It was a chance to share a bit more of the India I loved with people. Since the driver had been exceptional, we invited him to join us."

The four of them walked into the hotel while the driver parked the car. When he tried to join them, the staff barred his entry, not even allowing him in through the main door. Ms Neubauer then explained to the staff that she had invited him but they indicated that the hotel's patrons would not accept having a driver in the dining room with them. The night manager corroborated this absurd argument.

As Ms Neubauer pointed out, this was "a surprise for me, since the very 'refined' clients we have sent to the Taj hotels over the years would, like us, invite a driver to join them, if he had been as good as ours! Moreover, I have personally stayed in many Taj hotels over the years, and many of the clients are certainly not 'refined', although they may be rich!"

As she also pointed out, the rest of them were hot and dusty and the driver in a crisp white uniform looked far more presentable than they. In the face of the hotel staff's inflexibility, Ms Neubauer chose to visit another restaurant called Niros, which appeared to have no problem with a driver dining with them.

The Taj management replied to Ms Naubauer charmingly, expressing embarrassment that the "admission policy was put into practice in such an insensitive manner". "While we do indeed have a policy on admission and a dress code for non-resident guests at our restaurants, the situation could have been handled with empathy and sensitivity," it read.

The letter went on to say the Rambagh would contact the driver and invite him to a meal at the hotel.

Now, it is clear that the staff at the Rambagh had exceeded their brief, and the humiliation of the driver can only be imagined. But, sadly, the fact is that such unwritten social embargoes take place quite often at the intersection of corporate and social life. They are taken so much for granted that they are rarely commented on. It is unlikely that the Rambagh incident would have become noteworthy had Ms Naubauer not taken it upon herself to object in such strong terms.

A case in point is the recent incident in Delhi when farmers keen to eat in a five-star hotel were barred entry again on grounds that guests would be upset. The 24X7 TV channels with their insatiable hunger for news did broadcast the incident but it was all but absent from the print media.

The other point about these incidents is that they illustrate the distance between the evolution of social attitudes and the imperatives of emerging India. Rapid economic growth and the need for talent are forcing corporate India to break down yesterday's unwritten social barriers in hiring policies. But little of this is transmitted into a truly egalitarian outlook within companies. That is what gives hotel staff the conviction that they could bar people entry on purely class considerations. Perhaps the next challenge for managements is to move beyond proforma announcements about being equal opportunities organisations.

The Taj group itself has been at the receiving end of some thinly-veiled exclusionism when the Orient Express group of hotels rejected its bid on grounds of a mismatch between an "Indian" hotel chain and a high-end luxury hospitality brand. Now, like the Rambagh, Orient Express was well within its rights to decline any bid it wanted. But the reason for the rejection was not lost on anyone, least of all Indian Hotels, which sent a magnificently-worded riposte and eventually earned itself a shareholder supporter.

Those arguments worked at a corporate level; they should work for the individual as well.