A man has shared his experience of staying at a hotel in Switzerland, where a notice, specifically addressing "Indian tourists," asked them not to pack buffet food into their purses.
Dr Arshiet Dhamnaskar, a neurosurgeon, said the message left him feeling "hurt," not because of its content but the way it was written. On X, responding to a tweet that said, "Hotel breakfast buffet is where people reveal their true selves," he shared what transpired during his visit to the European nation1.
"A few years ago, I was in Switzerland with my family. Behind the hotel room door, there was a long message which could be summarised to, 'Don't pack buffet items into your purses. If you want, we can give you separately packed food items'," he wrote.
He said he found the rule reasonable, as even though the buffet is unlimited, guests should not pack food.
"Which seems an okay message, that yeah, it is 'unlimited', but not really 'unlimited' that you hoard it all into your bag and get free food for life and stuff," he mentioned, but it hurt him the way the notice signalled out Indian tourists.
"The one real thing that hurt me was, well, the message could have been addressed to anyone and everyone, but it, specifically, started with, 'Dear Indian tourists.'"
The post went viral, but some users questioned its authenticity, calling it fake.
In response, Dr Dhamnaskar said he tried searching his own photo gallery for a picture of the notice, but could not find it. "Then I thought maybe someone else would have posted it online, and turns out it has already been posted before: (not sure if this was the exact hotel I stayed in)," he wrote.
He shared a post by Harsh Goenka, the chairman of RPG Enterprises, from 2019 about the Arc-en-Ciel Hotel in Gstaad, Switzerland. The notice at the hotel specifically addressed Indian guests, starting with "Dear guests from India."
It shared guidelines and rules such as not taking buffet food with you, ordering a lunch bag from staff for a fee, using only the cutlery provided, not sharing dishes with more than two people, and keeping quiet in the corridors.
Goenka wrote, "Reading this notice, I felt angry, humiliated and wanted to protest. But a realisation dawned that we, as tourists, are loud, rude, and not culturally sensitive. With India becoming an international power, our tourists are our best global ambassadors. Let's work on changing our image!"
