Unforgettable hotel

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