What women really need from hotels other than a “complimentary rose”?
Happy International Women’s Day! An important day where businesses, individuals, organisations raise awareness about women’s rights and inequality. This day is however often mistaken to be a day where women should receive flowers, a free lipstick or even a complimentary massage on arrival to “pamper them”.
This special day is still very confusing for a lot of brands. I have to say for marketing teams it’s a brilliant day for producing new content but we have to make sure that this content is actually relevant to the topic.
Few weeks ago, an inspiring, hard-working and brilliant woman (who still doesn’t have equal pay unfortunately) came to me with an article about the “She Travel Club”. After reading more about it, it really brought to my attention why hotels are going wrong about what they actually offer to women.
A brilliant woman herself called Valerie Hoffenberg has founded The She Travel Club. Her study from this club highlights that “Women who travel on their own are now representing 64% of leisure travellers and 52% of business travellers. 8 women out of 10 would like their travelling experiences to change and get more attention from hotels for their actual needs.”
So what do women really need when they travel?
After collecting feedback from women through surveys, the She Travel Club came back with 4 pillars that seem to be the most important to women; safety, comfort, service and dining. I know what you are thinking; don’t all hotels provide these already? They do, but not adapted to women who travel alone.
Why should you feel afraid to say at check-in that you will be alone in the room while men are listening to your conversation? Why would you rather eat in your room because some strangers will try to flirt with you in the hotel restaurant?
Reading these women’s testimonies made me realise that our industry has got women’s needs wrong for years. Women want to be travelling on their own equally as men but they should be provided with the right safety measures and services for them.
Some ideas from the club are actually easy for hotels to implement and yet very rare to find. They should have bathrobes and slippers that fit women sizes, a little emergency kit that you could ask at reception that could have pads, cotton etc, room service menus that also have healthy choices. A peephole in each room door because how do you know if it’s really a staff member knocking at your door?
This International Women Day, instead of a complimentary rose on arrival why not offer safety, comfort, services and dining options adapted to women. Your hotel can become a certified hotel with the She Certification. Find out why should you get certified.
In an industry where women are predominant, it’s time for us to wake up and build a better hotel experience for everyone.