Unforgettable hotel

On the night of Feb. 28 at around 11:15 p.m. two female friends and I went to a five-star hotel (GH) on Jl. Thamrin. We wanted to see a band which we had enjoyed before. We got out of the taxi and were about to enter the lobby when we were stopped by a security guard. This was an insult as I have never been prevented from entering a hotel.

He did not let us in for the following reasons: 1. Women are not allowed in; the regulation was issued a week ago. The funny thing is we could enter the hotel on Saturday, Feb. 26 when we came around 11 p.m. after dinner. Maybe because that time I had come in a BMW, not in cab. 2. The pub upstairs is only for men. This is strange, too. It's news to me that there is a special male pub at a five-star hotel.

I already tried to explain that we had come on Saturday and that there was no problem. And on the earlier visit I had on a "sexier" outfit compared to the dress and long-sleeved blouse I was wearing that night, while my friends were wearing trousers and tight T-shirts. I gave the security man my name card showing I worked for a foreign embassy here but he did not give in.

When we gave up I called a taxi to go home. My friends somehow managed to get in. They called me while I was in the taxi, saying the so-called all-male club had some women wearing "worse" clothes than them and that there were foreign men wearing sandals.

I became confused and indignant at the treatment I had received. How can one judge who can enter a hotel only by looking at their clothes and vehicle?! Such a luxurious hotel in the middle of Jakarta has an arrogance which is completely out of place. How ironic!

AUDREY BABES

Jakarta