Privacy is hard to come by in India. Life is a common vortex of relatives, neighbors and friends. The cities are crowded, and curious views are everywhere.
Enter Oyo, the popular hotel booking platform. The company, backed by big names in venture capital, has built a stellar reputation as the gateway to “love hotels” for unmarried couples. Inside the cheap premises, young lovers who would otherwise be left to steal secret kisses in the corners of public parks or shopping malls could pursue their passions behind closed doors.
Now Oyo is retreating from its merger haven image. This month it revised its guidelines to give some partner hotels the discretion to deny rooms to young couples unless they provide proof of marriage.
So far, the change only affects Meerut, a medium-sized city northeast of New Delhi. The company said the new policy was in response to complaints from civil society groups and was formulated “in accordance with local social sensitivities”.
Oy’s move sparked memes and backlash on social media, especially among 20-somethings. For many, it clarified the tension between traditional values and modern ideals that defines the lives of millions of young Indians.
Sex before marriage is still largely a taboo subject in this deeply conservative country, where marriages are traditionally arranged within families. It is widely regarded as a malignant import from the less restrained West and an affront to Indian culture that should be either controlled or left unrecognized.
The stigma around premarital sex is about “family honor,” said Chirodip Majumdar, an associate professor at Rabindra Mahavidyalaya, a college in the eastern state of West Bengal. Despite this, more and more young people are doing it, studies show.
Attitudes about premarital sex differ along class lines, Mr. Majumdar, and people with higher incomes view it more favorably. “They have a greater scope of social interactions, more knowledge about birth control mechanisms, more exposure to Western culture,” he said.
Many young Indians have also embraced liberal attitudes towards dating and sex that transcend caste, class and religion, which still often mandate arranged marriages.
Dating apps like Tinder are popular, and so are relationships. A 2022 study published in the journal Sexuality & Culture found that 55 percent of young adults in four cities in India “were involved in a relationship, suggesting that norms around sexual behavior may be changing.”
Neha, a 34-year-old consultant based in Bengaluru, said she and her husband rented Oyo rooms twice a week while dating. Neha, who asked that her last name not be used, recalled the judgmental looks she was often given by hoteliers, including those who do not use the Oyo platform.
In some hotels, the owners questioned their marital status before turning them away.
But Oyo became such a key part of their romance that when the couple tied the knot in 2017, their animated video wedding invitation included a reference to the hotel platform.
“Everyone knew we were using Oyo,” Neha said, adding, “so we put that in the wedding invitation.”
India’s lack of private spaces for intimacy has created a market for companies like Oyo.
It is not uncommon to see young lovers secretly exchanging kisses in near-empty cinemas or under the arches of abandoned monuments in the scorching heat of the Delhi summer. Bathrooms and crawl spaces are fair game. Internet cafes can be make-up zones.
in the acclaimed 2024 film “All We Imagine as Light”, which explores the intertwined lives of three women in Mumbai, one of the characters finds an abandoned patch of forest to have sex with her boyfriend.
Manforce, considered India’s best-selling condom brand, launched a series of humorous ads last year featuring couples pulling it on in private corners of public spaces — in a car, a park, a movie theater.
Oyo was founded in 2013 and is backed by investment firms including SoftBank. It expanded to the United States in 2019, and last year it bought the Motel 6 chain.
In India, it offers rooms for as little as 500 rupees, or less than $6, per night, no questions asked. The platform has become popular among small hotel owners, who must adhere to Oyo’s standards and use its brand by signing up to Oyo.
On Google, one of the first search questions for Oyo is “Can I stay in Oyo with my girlfriend?” Although Oyo also caters to solo business travelers and other customers, the company has banked on its image, offering room searches under filters such as “connection mode”.
Now, however, more families are being pursued.
IN advertisement published last yeara young couple sits at a table with the woman’s family. Their marital status is unclear. After she tells her father that they booked a weekend trip with Oya, he looks at them in horror.
When the couple says it’s more fun with family, the father expresses confusion: “What are you talking about?” The next shot shows the whole family checking into the glitzy Oyo Hotel. The father then says: “That’s what you’re talking about!”
Follow KB contributed reporting.
