Holding Schloss Udaipur Pvt Ltd, which operates The Leela Palace at Udaipur, guilty of deficiency in hospitality services, the Chennai north district consumer disputes redressal commission ordered it to pay ₹10 lakh as compensation to a guest whose privacy was violated during her stay at the luxury property. The commission also directed the hotel to refund the entire room tariff of ₹55,500 with 9% interest, along with ₹10,000 towards litigation costs, after concluding that the service rendered was 'fundamentally defective'.
In an order last month 16 December 2025, the bench of D Gopinath (president) and members Kavitha Kannan and R Sivakumhar says, "This commission is constrained to observe that Leela Palace, Udaipur, instead of demonstrating empathy and accountability which is expected from a reputed luxury hotel of star category, adopted a defensive and adversarial approach, sought to trivialise a serious invasion of privacy and attempted to shield itself behind internal standard operating procedures (SOPs). Such conduct is strongly condemnable. The right to privacy and dignity of a hotel guest, especially in a vulnerable condition, cannot be compromised under the guise of operational convenience. Further, this commission observes that it is the duty of Leela Palace, Udaipur to display and provide its website, the minimum SOPs at least to ensure the privacy and safety of its guests during check-in, stay and check-outs, if the entire SOPs are much confidential as claimed. Enabling its staff to use masters key while the guests are in occupancy, to open the door and enter inside clearly amounts to a serious deficiency in service on the opposite party."
The complaint was filed by a Chennai-based lawyer who had booked a grand room with lake view at The Leela Palace, Udaipur, to celebrate her husband’s birthday and their baby-moon in January 2025. The stay, booked on a non-refundable basis, cost ₹55,500 for one night.
According to the complainant, on 27 January 2025, a housekeeping staff member entered the occupied room without consent while she and her husband were inside the washroom. The complainant, who was pregnant at the time, says the intrusion caused her severe mental trauma, humiliation and emotional distress. She alleged that, despite immediately reporting the incident, the hotel management failed to take the matter seriously, delayed access to CCTV footage and attempted to trivialise the breach of privacy instead of taking prompt corrective action.
The Hotel, operated by Schloss Udaipur, denied the allegations and claimed that its staff acted in accordance with SOPs. It argued that the entry occurred during scheduled housekeeping hours and that there was no deliberate or malicious intent. The Hotel further claimed that the apology letters issued by staff were only goodwill gestures and did not amount to an admission of wrongdoing.
After examining the records and documentary evidence, including WhatsApp communications, apology letters issued on the day of the incident, photographs and videos of the room and emails exchanged with Hotel officials, the commission rejected the Hotel’s defence. It observed that internal SOPs cannot override a guest’s fundamental right to privacy, particularly in a five-star luxury hotel charging premium tariffs.
The commission noted that the Hotel itself admitted that its housekeeping staff used a master key to enter the room within a short time, even though the room was occupied. It held that such conduct was unreasonable, unsafe and contrary to the basic expectation of privacy in a luxury hospitality setting. The commission also took note of evidence showing that the washroom door was defective and that the CCTV camera outside the room was non-functional which raised serious concerns about safety and accountability.
In its order, the commission emphasised that the complainant’s pregnancy aggravated the mental trauma suffered by her and imposed a higher duty of care on the service-provider. It criticised the Hotel for adopting a defensive and adversarial approach instead of demonstrating empathy and accountability expected from a reputed hospitality brand.
While declining to direct the Hotel to issue a public apology or publish its internal SOPs, the commission held that monetary compensation is warranted to address the violation of privacy and dignity suffered by the complainant. It says the compensation was meant to reaffirm that consumer dignity, privacy and safety are non-negotiable, and that even reputed service providers would be held to the highest standards under consumer protection law.
(CC no.187/2025 Date: 16 December 2025)
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