The Gazette 1991

GAZETTE

LY/AUGUST

1991

A hotel code which requires all

its customers in the intersts of

decency, to wear the basic items of

clothing

trousers, footwear,

shirt/tee shirt and jacket or jersey

- which are in a clean and good

state of repair, seems hard to fault

and would most likely be deemed

reasonable. But a dress code that

goes beyond this - and many do

- and distinguishes between

different types of essential clothes

such as trousers and permits, say,

flannel trousers but not denim or

other types of jeans, might not be

regarded as being reasonable. This

would be because the hotel's

entitlement to make such

distinctions has to operate in the

context of the definition of a hotel

contained in s.1 of the 1963 Act,

and its use of the phrase "all-

comers". The effect of that

definition would seem to be that

any clothes related ground of

refusal must focus on a standard of

appearance or dress below what

reasonably could be expected of

the average "all-comer" for that

hotel. This could well prevent a

court from accepting that a hotel

can link a "cultivated" atmosphere

with formal or expensive clothes. It

may be, therefore, be that the hotel

must receive all-comers who are

wearing trousers, and not just all-

comers who are not wearing jeans.

The legality of entire hotel dress

codes that go still further and

require the wearing of non-

essential items of clothing, such as

ties or certain kinds of jackets, is

even more problematic. The fact

that these are, generally speaking,

not basic items of clothing could

make it much more difficult to

establish the reasonableness of a

dress code based on these items.

Testing the Genuineness of

Entire Hotel Dress Codes

The validity of the assertion by a

hotel that its dress code is

genuinely linked to a disinterested

maintainence of the hotel's

ambiance can also be tested by

asking whether the code is

operated at all times and in a

consistent manner throughout the

entire hotel, and whether facilities

are provided by the hotel to enable

the non-complying customer to

comply with the code. If a resident

appears downstairs in the

restaurant for breakfast wearing

say, denim jeans, and he is not

asked to wear more formal

clothing, then this selective

application of the code seems to

suggest that the code is not really

linked to maintaining the hotel's

ambiance. Equally, it would seem to

be the sign of a genuine linkage

between a dress code and the

hotel's standards if the hotel

provides facilities for the non-

complying customer to comply

with the code, say, by hiring a

jacket or tie to the customer. The

current near-universal absence of

such facilities tends to suggest that

"Restricted sree dress codes ere

much more likely to be

ressoneble, and therefore legal,

than entire area codes."

hotels are content when customers

do not comply with their codes and

also that they do not particularly

wish to enable them to comply.

This, again, would imply that hotel

codes serve other purposes besides

their declared ones.

It should also be appreciated

that, even if a hotel's code does

satisfy these tests, this would not

automatically ensure that the code

COMMON

MARKET LAW

REPORTS

Editor: Neville March Hunnings

Published weekly,

Common Market Law Reports

provide full reports of the European Court of Justice,

decisions of the E.C. on antitrust state aids and

anti-dumping matters, and judgments of national

courts on European Community legal issues.

All major topics are covered, including:

Employment; Environment; Import Restrictions;

Patent and Trade Marks; Value Added Tax

Important draft directives or regulations, practice

notes and commission guidelines are also

occasionally included.

1991 Annual Subscription

(inc. CMLR Antitrust Reports) £410.00

Bound Volume Service (extra) £90.00

ORDER HOTLINE

Andover (0264) 342902

All major credit cards accepted

CMLR

ANTITRUST

REPORTS

Editor: Joe MacDonald Hill

CMLR Antitrust Reports

provide a monthly

comprehensive reporting service on the antitrust

law of the Common Market.

Full text reports of all antitrust judgments of the

European Court of Justice and the Court of First

Instance and all antitrust decisions of the E.C.

Commission are published.

Each issue also contains an information section

including up to date details of any new Commission

Decisions and the current status of any cases

pending.

1991 Annual Subscription £185.00

Bound Volume Service (extra) £35.00

Sweet

Maxwell

ORDERS BY POST

Sweet & Maxwell Ltd, FREEPOST,

Andover, Hants, SP10 5BR

Dx 90331

181