Switzerland Hotel Issues Racist Memo to Indians

Harsh Goenka, Indian industrialist and chairman of $1.43 billion RPG conglomerated recently posted a memo on his Twitter handle. The memo was specially addressed to Indian guests. Guests from India are asked to not take away food after breakfast, only use the cutlery provided, don’t talk loudly in the hotel and maintain peace.

The memo posted at the Arc-en-Ciel hotel, Gstaad, Switzerland. It was signed duly by its manager Christiane Matti and listed a list of do’s and don’ts for Indian guests. The hotel is under fire for its racist policies. The hotel has apologized and pulled back the notice.

This post has created a rift among Indians. Some say that Indian tourists have a bad rap in the West and others argue that any such act should not be generalized for all Indians.

In another video that went viral a few days back showed Indian guests getting caught stealing hotel items in Bali.

Reading this notice I felt angry, humiliated and wanted to protest.
But a realisation dawned that we as tourists are loud, rude, not culturally sensitive. With India becoming an international power, our tourists are our best global ambassadors. Let’s work on changing our image! pic.twitter.com/7R4ZrZIXKi
— Harsh Goenka (@hvgoenka) July 22, 2019