Hotels, inns to be given right to turn guests away for bad behavior

A hotel lobby in Tokyo (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Hotels and inns will soon be able to turn away annoying and drunk guests under the health ministry’s draft guidelines that specify the conditions for refusal.

The guidelines, released on Sept. 5, allow hotels and inns to reject guests who repeatedly exhibit aggressive behavior, including demanding unreasonable discounts and excessive hospitality, and making unreasonable and persistent complaints until hotel workers kneel on the floor and apologize.

They also say hotels can decline accommodations to heavily drunk customers.

A final version of the outline will be approved by December.

The guidelines were drafted following revisions made to the Hotel Business Law in June.

The revisions allowed hotels to turn away guests who impose excessive burdens on their employees, creating an exception to the law that prohibits hotels from refusing customers.

However, to ensure the revisions will not lead to discrimination against people with disabilities, the draft guidelines made clear that hotels can’t refuse guests on the grounds of a disability.

The revised Hotel Business Law also enabled hotels to turn away guests with severe infections, including Ebola hemorrhagic fever and tuberculosis, as well as new types of flu.

During an epidemic, hotels can also ask guests with symptoms to cooperate with infection control measures, such as reporting their diagnosis and staying quarantined in their rooms.

Guests must cooperate unless there is a justifiable reason. However, the draft guidelines also said hotels should not make requests in such a way that guests are forced to comply with them.