Instead of cuddles, a cold shoulder

HYANNIS -- In the jumble of Cape Cod hotels competing for guests, the International Inn has long carved out a niche as an oasis for the harried couple.

Each of the 141 lace-curtained rooms holds a hot tub built for two. The inn's motto -- ''We supply the Bubbles, you supply the Cuddles!!!" -- is the trademark of its Marriage Survival Suite package. For an extra fee, guests can indulge in a single pair of silk pajamas, chocolate-covered strawberries, and a set of play dice.

But for one Harwich couple hoping for a romantic retreat, there would be neither bubbles nor cuddles.

When Donna Gomes called the inn to reserve a room during the year-end holidays, the receptionist told her that local couples were not welcome. When Gomes hung up, stunned, her husband of 37 years called back -- and was also rejected.

The Gomeses had run into the inn's policy of refusing reservations from residents of the Cape. The hotel recently stopped renting to would-be guests from east of the Bourne Bridge after a spate of trouble with local drug dealers, who conducted sales from their rooms, and other locals who hosted wild parties in their suites.

Rich Scovill, manager of the International Inn, said the owners had decided to exclude Cape Codders after helping the Barnstable Police Department oust drug dealers who were working from the rooms on Hyannis's Main Street.

''We don't need a drug raid," Scovill said. ''We don't need someone getting shot or stabbed over something like that."

So the inn, which once wooed couples with radio ads featuring Dr. Ruth impersonators and a promise to improve marriages, stopped advertising locally and began trying to lure guests from the mainland and Rhode Island. People who travel to the Cape are less likely to spontaneously invite hordes of friends, Scovill said.

''They're not going to rent the room and call all their friends and say, 'Come on down, we're having a party,' " he said.

Gomes said she and her husband, Manuel, had planned nothing more elaborate than indulging -- just the two of them -- in the hot tub and the four-course dinner offered in the Marriage Survival Suite package.

''Never has anything like this ever happened," said Manuel Gomes, 56, a retired police officer who expressed astonishment that he and his wife might be considered potential troublemakers. ''To have it happen in your own backyard, it was kind of a shock."

Scovill was unapologetic about the inn's decision, although he said that in some cases he will allow Cape residents to make reservations when he talks to them over the phone. He said he always turns away callers who ''rant and rave" about the policy of excluding Cape residents. ''That's usually the type of person that ends up being the type of person that causes problems later on," he said, adding that he never spoke to the Gomeses about their reservation.

Scovill said the inn reserves the right to turn away guests it considers risky. Others argue that the approach could create legal problems.

''The International Inn is opening itself up to the possibility of a lawsuit by issuing a blanket policy excluding residents of a particular group," said David Noble, director of operations and external affairs for the Massachusetts Lodging Association, adding that he did not know of any other inn or hotel that refuses to rent rooms to locals.

Noble said his association urges its 600 members -- the International Inn does not belong -- to avoid all policies against renting to certain guests. Although some innkeepers are hesitant to rent to young guests, especially around prom season, Noble tells them not to turn young people away.

Instead, he said, managers can demand extra precautions: up-front deposits, for instance, or written parental permission for 18-year-old guests.

The International Inn, which opened in 1959 as the Charles Motor Lodge, has been catering to couples since the 1980s. Rooms in the brick, U-shaped complex start at $89 a night, and the most hedonistic spread is the three-room Plaza Jacuzzi Suite, with a wet bar, a 61-inch television, and an SUV-sized hot tub surrounded by faux Roman columns. On weekends, the suite can cost as much as $400 a night.

The Gomeses, who have two grown daughters, have stayed at the International Inn for single-night retreats in the past, and had never been turned away. They've given gift certificates from the inn to relatives.

Now they vow they will never return, even if the inn agreed to take them. After they couldn't make reservations over the holidays, Gomes said, he and his wife decided to stay home.

''That sort of ruined the moment," he said.

Kathleen Burge can be reached at kburge@globe.com