With the growth of the hospitality industry, more people are travelling than ever before! New guest personas are emerging and the traditional notions of travel are being challenged. Earlier, family trips, couple trips and business trips were the major forms of travelling.
Now, solo travelling and friend group travelling are emerging. Especially women are now getting into solo travel and Friend group travelling. This has increased the demand for female-friendly hotels.
The Need For Female-Friendly Hotels
After being restricted for ages, female travellers have started emerging into the scene. Women are gaining the confidence to explore different places alone or with their group of friends.
However, there are concerns about women's safety as well, since the industry is yet to adjust to the new reality, that's why female-friendly hotels are the need of the hour.
Women travellers need female-friendly hotels because women need additional care and safety. Women's safety has emerged as an important issue and if a hotel wants to attract female travellers, they will need to make their hotel women-friendly.
The 6 Steps To Become A Female-Friendly Hotel
Here are some steps to make your hotel female-friendly. With these, you will be able to attract female guests and target an emerging market segment effectively.
1. Never Ignore Safety And Security
First things first, never compromise on safety and security. Invest in CCTV cameras and install them in every nook and corner of the hotels. However, ensure that you don’t violate the privacy of female travellers. Deploy security guards outside your hotel at night and ensure that the hotel is not completely dark during any time of the day. This is the step to become a female-friendly hotel.
You need to also hire female staff for brisking the female guests. Also, it will be great if there are more female staff at the hotel, this will make female travellers more comfortable. Don’t ignore the male staff as well. Ensure that they are also sensitized about female safety.
2. Maintain A Hygenic Surrounding Everywhere
An unclean hotel will put off any guests. However, female travellers are especially repulsed by unclean hotels and rooms because, for them, cleanliness and safety go hand in hand. “A hotel which can’t maintain basic cleanliness, can’t ensure safety" is the basic premise of female travellers. This can come in the way of becoming a female-friendly hotel.
And rightfully so. Women value cleanliness and hygiene above everything else. An unclean environment is an unsafe environment as well since it is prone to insects, bugs and bacteria. Hoteliers should ensure that every spot of the hotel is cleaned. The rooms and bathrooms need even more concentration since guests will judge a hotel based on it.
3. Include Pick-Up And Drop-Off Facilities
The last thing female travellers want to do is deal with the pesky cabs and the even peskier cab drivers. This makes women feel unsafe and even harassed. To become a female-friendly hotel - you will need to include pick-up and drop-off facilities for female travellers.
This will make your hotel instantly attractive to female travellers since they will not have to deal with the hassle caused by touts and cab drivers. Female travellers can also have all the details regarding the driver and will be able to pay a fair price to the driver too.
4. Have All The Amenities For Female Travellers
A female-friendly hotel without amenities is incomplete. Female travellers need some additional amenities due to their varied needs. The hotels need to have sanitary pads, hairdryers, curlers, straighteners and mirrors in the rooms.
Your female staff will be able able to give more insights into the needs of women travellers. Keeping all the amenities which women need will make your hotel women-friendly.
5. Make The Front Desk Female-Friendly
The front desk is the face of your hotel. Having a female-friendly front desk is essential. Female travellers need to get their grievances addressed and the front desk staff can step up and solve all their issues such as lack of amenities, complaints against the hotel and staff, and information regarding safe attractions for women. This is a mark of a female-friendly hotel.
The front office can help female travellers all the places of attractions, restaurants, and pubs which are safe and enjoyable for women.
6. Train Your Staff Regarding Female Travellers
In the hospitality industry, the guest is king. In the case of female travellers - they need to be treated as queens. If they have genuine grievances, they need to be sorted out immediately. The staff needs to be trained to take additional care while dealing with female guests. Any rude behaviour from the staff will make the female travellers insecure.
If the female guest is too rude, try to solve the issue calmly. If they are being too unreasonable or merely misbehaving for no reason, you need to be firm and polite and make it clear that their demands are unreasonable.
By following these steps, your property can become the most female-friendly hotel in town. Women are becoming more assertive and independent, and want to freely explore. Hotels need to give them assurances that their special needs and worries will be taken care of.
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