No-Mehram Rule makes Little difference – Hotels

Tuesday, 05 February 2008
By Kholood F. Al-Rhamah and

Sabahat F. Siddiqi

JEDDAH - Hotels across Saudi Arabia are now allowed to receive female guests without a Mehram or male guardian accompanying them, after a decision by the Ministry of Commerce to this effect.

However, a Saudi Gazette survey in Jeddah, Dammam and Riyadh showed that, since the new rule, only five to 10 percent of guests were women who stayed overnight.

At the Holiday Inn, a spokesperson said their statistics on female guests has not changed dramatically since the decision was made.

"We had female visitors coming into the hotel after the decision but the number is low," the spokesperson said, suggesting that the new rule has not made much of a difference.

The Ministry of Commerce now requires all female visitors to have a national ID as a condition to stay overnight unaccompanied.

"It will take time to be implemented in the hotels," said Sada Al-Abo from the Hotel Crown Plaza, Jeddah.

"In time, by the summer, I believe that the number will increase up to 50 percent," Al-Abo said.
The decision applies to both Saudis and expatriates.

Hotels in the Eastern Province have not implemented the decision and are still preventing women from checking-in without a Mehram.

"We have not yet received any memo from the government so we have not changed our policies," said Abdullah Isamil, a supervisor at Safari Hotel, Dammam.

Some hotels are still waiting for official word to make the change in their check-in procedures.
"We heard about the decision of allowing women to check-in to hotels without a male escort, but we did not receive any memo to apply it," said Ashraf Abdul Malik, general manager of Al-Salam Palace, Dammam.

"We are still preventing women from checking in alone." A representative from Al-Attas Hotel said that most of the women come with their husband or brother. If they are from Jeddah, then the hotel authorities verify their back-story by calling a person related to her.

"We still have our own hotel policies to ensure the safety and security of our guests and to make sure both the hotel and the guests do not encounter problems," he said.