Majority of Moroccans Support Hotel Marriage Certificate Policy, Survey Finds

Only 14% of respondents oppose hotels’ demand to present marriage contracts, a survey by the Sunergia Group reveals. Conversely, 72% of Moroccans approve of this measure as a way to preserve what they consider to be the values of society and cultural traditions. As for the remaining 14% of respondents, they have no clear opinion on this issue.

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During a session of the House of Councillors last May, Abdellatif Ouahbi opposed the hotel requirements. Requiring a marriage certificate or any other document without legal mandate from Moroccan couples as a condition for assigning them a hotel room is an illegal practice and an invasion of privacy, he had denounced. "I have been looking for 20 years for a basis for this practice, but I have found none," Ouahbi had assured, warning anyone who would demand unauthorized documents from citizens. This statement by the minister had provoked various reactions within Moroccan society. Some Moroccans criticized it, believing that it encourages what they described as "corruption" and "moral decline", while others welcomed it as a step towards strengthening individual freedoms and refusing to oversee the morality of individuals.

The survey conducted by Sunergia also addressed the issue of a woman’s stay in a hotel in the city where she resides. The Minister of Justice had considered discriminatory and unjustifiable by law the fact that some hotels require women to provide a certificate proving that they do not reside in the city where they wish to book a hotel room. 49% of respondents express their opposition, while 42% support it, and 8% have no clear opinion.