Contrary to a lot of comments in the shoes-off debate, there is a difference between requesting people to remove their shoes and 'forcing' or 'demanding' them to do so.
I consulted the Meriam-Webster dictionary:
Request: to make a request to or of, to ask as a favor or privilege
Demand: to ask or call for with authority : claim as due or just, to call for urgently, peremptorily, or insistently
Force: to compel by physical, moral, or intellectual means
We do not force or demand that visitors remove their shoes, but we request them to do so.
