hotel.intercontinental
Five Star hotels will now have to treat their female guests more carefully after a court ordered Hotel Intercontinental to pay a woman Kshs 2 million for defamation and unlawful imprisonment when the hotel staff threw her out on suspicion that she was a prostitute.
Justice Msaga Mbogholi ordered the attorney general to pay Winfred Njoki Clarke a further 1 million for the incident where she was detained for two days at the Central Police Station.
In her suit papers, Clarke told the court that on March 19th, 1998 she went to the hotel as a potential paying customer to have a drink with her friend but was denied service for no reason at all except that she was not accompanied by a man.
The Judge found that Clarke's reputation was tainted by being dragged out of the hotel leading to her arrest and unlawful detention.
He added that the actions of the hotel amounted to great humiliation and embarrassment.
-Zipporah Weru