In our country, the law pertaining to the expression of love is more rigid compared to the western countries, and perhaps this is the reason many lovebirds try to resort to various options to keep themselves away from the people’s eyes but, despite all these, they cannot manage to escape the police. The recent case of Mumbai police rounding up more than 40 couples from the various locations in Metro city became the talk of the town. According to the reports, Police swept through the Mumbai hotels at about 3 pm, going room to room, arresting more than 40 unmarried couples. All were charged. The college students were forced to call their parents and admit what they had done. This kind of situation does not only bring the huge embarrassments to the families but also sends the wrong message amongst the youngsters, and to avoid such kind situation one of the countries Digital Startup have come up with a business idea of “Love Hotel”….
Every idea is originated out of the necessity and urge of making money but, this particular business idea also solves the problem of lovebirds who seek for some private time with their loved ones. According to the reports published in The Guardian a Mumbai based startup has come up with the idea of creating a Japanese Style Short Stay Rooms for the Unmarried couples in India.
“Unmarried Couples Checking in The Hotel Rooms Considered as “Public Indecency” More than 40 Couples Were Detained by The Police by going room to room in Mumbai and Some of them were even asked to call their Parents and admit what they had done”
The copies without the marriage certificate are not allowed to be in the hotel room in our country and if they still do it, then it is called as “Indecent Behaviour in Public” and it is a punishable crime in India, But where many Indians see immorality, others in the country’s digital startup industry have seen opportunity. “We have a guaranteed promise,” says hotel entrepreneur Blajoj “Blaze” Arizanov. “No knocks on the door, no weird stares, no questions asked.” For nearly three years Arizanov, a Macedonian, and his Indian co-founder, Sanchit Sethi, have been pursuing an unlikely goal: to bring a version of Japan’s short-stay “love hotels”, designed for urgent amorous encounters, to India.
The company which provides this services is known a “StayUncle” and it has added the 800th Hotel partner in February this year clocking up to whopping 3 million US dollars sales, and why not? they provide the facilities which are most needed in this country. The startup is helping to drive a more couple-friendly attitude across the Indian hotel industry – even if society is still catching up. “Even today, around half of my team doesn’t tell their family they work for StayUncle,” Arizanov says.
The concept has become the great success due to the change in the model but, the StayUncle had started in the year 2015 as a hotel aggregator, selling half-day stays aimed at business people seeking a nap or somewhere to freshen up. Obviously, the sales were low then, and it became the challenge in front of the company but, they found out that the website is being inundated with couples seeking privacy. “We got to know they were coming to us because they couldn’t book a hotel with local IDs,” he says. “It was a tragic thing – but maybe the opportunity we had been scouting for all this time.”
“The copies without the marriage certificate are not allowed to be in the hotel room in our country and if they still do it, then it is called as “Indecent Behaviour in Public” and it is a punishable crime in India, But where many Indians see immorality, others in the country’s digital startup industry have seen opportunity.”
According to Arizanov, although he was on with the idea he had to face a strong opposition from the hoteliers, and eight out of the ten hotels had rejected his idea outright calling it immoral and against the law. Asking them to shed their old-fashioned ideas rarely worked. What did, however, was an appeal to the hip pocket – and the rapid growth of Airbnb. “We told them, you can choose to be conservative, or you can open your eyes to the opportunity,” Arizanov says adding that “There are thousands of young people with well-earning jobs and lots of free money who want to have fun. And if you reject them Airbnb will take your piece of the pie.”
Most hotels were satisfied when the money started flowing, and many now approach StayUncle asking to be listed. But Arizanov says he still “mercilessly” cuts at least 10 each month for being insufficiently discreet. Other hotels have asked to be taken off the website after seeing StayUncle’s provocative marketing. The Founder Arizanov, 29 and his Indian counterpart and Co-founder Sethi are the brains behind this concept. But Sethi is facing lots of opposition from his family which belongs to the holy city Varanasi “Some of them, who have more progressive minds are OK,” he says. “Others are still on their way to accepting it.”
StayUncle’s greatest threat may be competition. India’s largest network of budget accommodation, Oyo, recently introduced a “relationship mode”, listing hotels that have agreed not to hassle unmarried couples. Arizanov is convinced the concept will boom in India. After all, he says, Japan, where they were pioneered, is a conservative country too. “They’re going to be an escape route,” he says. “Rather than let that repressed sexual energy pile up and manifest in some other way, we are helping them dissolve in some alternative channel, quietly.”
SOURCE: THE GUARDIAN
