If you are stuck in such a situation, here is what to do.

Mr. Ajay Verma and his family had booked a stay at the “Grand Vista Palace,” a well-regarded resort in the town of Shantipura, hoping for a peaceful getaway. However, their vacation took a stressful turn. Late one night, around 2:00 AM, a large group checked into the floor below them and began creating an extreme amount of noise, effectively turning their section of the hotel into a loud party zone.

Disturbed and unable to sleep, Mr. Verma contacted the front desk multiple times. To his dismay, the hotel staff was unhelpful and refused to take decisive action against the noisy guests. Their only suggestion was for Mr. Verma’s family to pack their belongings and move to a different room at 4:00 AM. Frustrated by this lack of responsibility, Mr. Verma spent over an hour at the reception, where staff members kept delaying, claiming a senior manager would resolve the issue, but no one ever appeared. The experience left the family exhausted and feeling harassed, completely ruining their holiday. Mr. Verma documented the incident by emailing the hotel’s management and including a video clip of the disturbance as evidence.

Advice in such cases

When faced with such a situation, where a service provider like a hotel fails to deliver on its promise of a comfortable and peaceful stay, you are not without recourse. The key is to act systematically.

• Document Everything: Keep a detailed log of events. Note down the time the noise started, the times you called the reception, and the names of the staff members you spoke with. Preserve all booking confirmations, receipts, and payment details.
• Create Evidence: Use your smartphone to record audio or video of the disturbance. This can serve as crucial evidence of the hotel’s failure to maintain a peaceful environment.
• Communicate in Writing: Follow up verbal complaints with a formal email to the hotel’s general manager, operations head, and corporate office. Clearly state the problem, the inaction of the staff, and the harassment you faced. This creates a formal record of your complaint.
• Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation of come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.

Applicable Sections of Law

The hotel’s failure to provide a peaceful environment and its staff’s subsequent behaviour can be challenged under several Indian laws.

• Consumer Protection Act, 2019: The hotel’s conduct amounts to a “deficiency in service.” You paid for a service (a peaceful stay) that was not rendered to the promised standard. The staff’s dismissive attitude and failure to resolve the issue can also be argued as an “unfair trade practice.” You can file a complaint in the appropriate Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission for compensation.
• Indian Contract Act, 1872: Your booking with the hotel is a contract. An implicit term of this contract is the provision of a safe and reasonably quiet environment for you to rest. By failing to control the noise, the hotel has breached the terms of the contract.
• Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS): Causing excessive noise that disturbs the public peace can be considered a public nuisance. While the police might be hesitant to intervene in an internal hotel matter, persistent and unreasonable noise falls under the definition of nuisance (Section 288 of BNS), which is a punishable offense.

If you are the complainant

As the guest who has suffered due to the hotel’s negligence, you are the complainant. Here are the steps you should take:

• Gather all your evidence, including booking details, payment proofs, email correspondence, and any audio/video recordings of the noise.
• Draft a formal legal notice to the hotel through a lawyer. This notice should detail the entire incident, the deficiency in service, the mental harassment caused, and a demand for compensation.
• If the hotel does not respond satisfactorily to the legal notice, you can proceed to file a formal complaint before the District Consumer Dispute Redressal Commission.
• Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation of come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.

If you are the victim

As a victim of harassment and poor service, your immediate actions are crucial for building a strong case.

• Do not accept inadequate solutions like changing rooms late at night if it is inconvenient and does not address the root cause. Politely refuse and state that the hotel should manage its other guests. Document this refusal and your reasons.
• Request to speak to the highest-ranking manager on duty and note down their response (or lack thereof).
• If the situation feels threatening or escalates, you have the right to call the police helpline. Explain that the hotel is failing to provide a safe and peaceful environment for which you have paid.
• Consult with Lawyer: The very basic and important step to start is talk to Lawyer / advocate. You should not hesitate in paying his consultation fee i.e. might be in range of Rs. 10,000 to 50,000 depends case to case. He is helping you in this situation of come out. He is expert in the domain and can help you explain the procedure which you might have never explored. A good lawyer can get the issues resolved much faster than you think.

How the police behave in such cases

Typically, the police view disputes between a hotel and its guests as civil matters. They might be reluctant to file an FIR immediately, especially for a noise complaint within a private establishment. Their first course of action is often to visit the location, mediate the dispute, and issue a warning to the party causing the nuisance. However, if the noise is excessive and affects multiple guests, or if the hotel staff is uncooperative, the police can take stricter action under public nuisance provisions of the BNS. Having a lawyer communicate with the police can often lead to a more serious response.

FAQs people normally have

Can I demand a full refund from the hotel?
Yes, you can and should demand a refund. A severe failure in service, such as being kept awake all night, constitutes a fundamental breach of the service agreement. You can claim a refund along with compensation for the harassment and ruined vacation.

Is it legal to record the noise or the conversation with the staff?
Yes. Recording the noise emanating from another room while you are in your own room is permissible as evidence. Recording your conversations with staff in public areas of the hotel like the reception is also generally acceptable to document their response and behaviour.

What if the hotel offers a free meal or a future discount as compensation?
Whether to accept such an offer is your personal choice. However, be aware that accepting it might be interpreted as a final settlement of the dispute. If you feel the offer does not adequately compensate for your ordeal, you can refuse it and pursue a formal legal claim.

What evidence is required?

To build a strong case against the hotel, you will need:

• Proof of your stay: Booking confirmation, invoices, and payment receipts.
• Evidence of the disturbance: Time-stamped audio or video recordings of the noise.
• Proof of your complaints: Copies of emails sent to the management, call logs, or a written note of your verbal complaints with staff names and times.
• Evidence of damages: A written statement on how the incident ruined your vacation, caused mental distress, and led to exhaustion. If you incurred any additional costs (e.g., had to book another hotel), keep those receipts.

How long will the investigation take?

The timeline varies depending on the path you choose.

• Consumer Complaint: The Consumer Protection Act, 2019, mandates a speedy resolution. However, in practice, a case in a Consumer Commission can take anywhere from 6 months to 2 years, depending on the complexity and the caseload of the commission.
• Police Complaint: If the police file an FIR for public nuisance, the investigation timeline is governed by the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023 (BNSS). This can also be a lengthy process, but the immediate intervention might solve the noise problem.

Advocate Sudhir Rao, Supreme Court of India