Hotels catering to women are on the rise. But while half the world’s population seems to be a reasonable (and sizable) market to be targeting, is this really something customers want?
Every few months or so, there’s an article pointing to the “growing trend” of female-only hotel floors. The latest entry comes from Forbes. It’s largely about amenities:
The Premier Hotel in Times Square wasn’t getting too many requests from female solo travelers looking for protection from male guests, but they were getting requests for better makeup lighting and more diet-friendly cuisine. “It wasn’t about women asking to not be around men,” says General Manager Patrick Davidson of the hotel’s decision last year to reserve one entire floor for women guests. “It was so they wouldn’t have to worry about packing every little additional thing.”
The Premier’s women-only rooms come with curling and flat irons, bath salts and loofahs, nail files, a vanity kit, yoga mats and women’s magazines (O, Self, Cosmopolitan)–all at no additional cost. The bathtub is oversized, and there’s a stool at the sink (with makeup lighting) so women can sit while doing their face.
(Speculation regarding what amenities you’d find in an all-male hotel room is welcomed, with some trepidation, in comments…)
Not everyone is cheering the existence of these floors — especially since the concept isn’t new. By this argument, the floors amount to a form of self-segregation and withdrawal from the gender-integrated world outside the hotel. To wit:
Many older female travelers with long memories have few kind words for those well-meaning floors of the past. Both Gloria Allred, a feminist lawyer, and the blogger Gina Hughes see them as a form of special treatment and, therefore, a form of discrimination.
Lalia Rach, a divisional dean and hotel specialist at New York University’s Tisch Center, described the concept of women’s floors as “19th-century thinking.” Back then, she said, “women couldn’t stay in a hotel unless their fathers or husbands checked them in.”
[...]
“By the mid-’80s, separate floors in hotels offended many women who were traveling on business,” said Bjorn Hanson, hotel analyst and faculty member at the Tisch Center. “They were trying to be CEOs but were looked on as the weaker sex. Women’s floors became a kind of sexist thing instead of a polite offer.”On the practical side, hotels had problems with separate floors for women. “Management couldn’t sell any empty women’s rooms to male travelers, even when they were full up elsewhere in the hotel,” Hanson said.
This latter point is the reason why entire hotels devoted solely to women haven’t lasted long. The awkwardly-named Lady’s First Design-Hotel in Zurich, whose rooms were off limits to men back in 2002, now permits men in the rooms as well. (Men aren’t allowed in the sauna, though.)
A key-restricted floor in a hotel, with rooms exclusively for women travelers, might make sense, but an entire hotel devoted to women? Sounds like a fast way to lose money.
So, here’s a question for the ladies: Would a female-only hotel floor (or, heck, an entire hotel) be appealing to you? Is this an idea whose time has come (again) or an unwelcome vestige of an earlier time? If you’re in favor, what would you want to see in such a property that you don’t see in hotels today? Hit the comments!
RSS (FeedBurner)
Read with Amazon Kindle
Subscribe by E-mail
Follow on Twitter
February 9th, 2009 at 10:40 am
I wouldn’t stay in one. If I am staying at a hotel by myself, I usually stay just long enough to sleep and shower. I am out sightseeing or attending meetings the rest of the time. I would also be afraid that their showers were like the midget showers some hotel bathrooms are afflicted with, since women tend to be shorter than men. I am almost 6 feet tall and those showers make it a pain to wash my hair.
As far as the diet food goes… this is NYC we’re talking about. I eat well when we go to New Orleans and always come back home 5lbs lighter because it is faster to walk than drive. I’d rather walk to a good restaurant and enjoy a good meal than have diet food in my hotel room.
If we’re going to play to stereotypes, I would probably rather stay in the guys’ rooms. I would prefer to have a fast, reliable net connection,a decent bedside laptop/gadget charging set up, an xbox, and magazines like Wired or Analog.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
No! Absolutely not! I have no interest in paying to be pandered to with any of those women-specific “amenities”. Nor do I have any interest in paying to support the existence of such rooms/floors by booking rooms in hotels who have them.
As for what one might find in a room equipped for male guests only, I think Caitlin had a good start.
I’d also guess that there would be a greater selection of movies of a certain kind on the pay per view screen. 
(I’ll stop there! 
)
February 9th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Yes, in certain circumstances, and in certain countries, I would find this a welcome perk. I have been in countries where I am stared at as a solo female business traveller, and feel very uncomfortable walking to my room with men staring at me. I also think that it might be a bit quieter too. Although women can be just as loud as men, I have heard less women shouting into their mobile phones at midnight in the hall than men.
February 9th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
In the US, I generally stay at hotels where I feel safe. The “perks” listed above are of no interest to me. But, I can tell you something I would like – female oriented TV channels. I am so tired of getting 4 or 5 news channels and 4 or 5 sports channels but no HGTV, Bravo, or TLC.
February 10th, 2009 at 11:38 am
Hi,
I know I’m a guy but I’m going to chime in. In Japan, in certain hotels, some rooms have special “room package for women” and special prices for them. For example, there is a hotel in Tamachi where the “women package” rooms comes with a facial humidifier along with a nicer makeup mirror and bath salts and bath oils along with other, what would be considered, feminine amenities. From what I can tell it’s pretty popular too. I know for a fact that a few female coworkers of mine got those rooms on a business trip to Japan and quite enjoyed it.
As for the differences…I was in their room. There really was no difference except the women’s room had slightly less desk space by the window due to the mirror and the humidifier. Same internet, tv, bed, desk, etc…
…to be honest…after a long long day in Tokyo walking everywhere slinging a US sized laptop around while in a suit all day…I think I could have used the bathsalts… (>_<)
February 10th, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Eh, occasionally there are hotels that only have shampoo, and not conditioner. I’m always annoyed when I realize that, and if I haven’t packed my own, to save space in the stupid carryon liquids baggie. I’m assuming a “women’s floor” would have both, and not that unholy “shampoo/conditioner” hybrid stuff. And like someone said above, I’ve stayed in a few hotels where it seems their cable package is 18 sports channels (I thought “The Ocho” was a *joke*…) a few news channels, and the NBC/ABC/CBS. So I’d love a few more options there.
But otherwise..nah. Better internet, more accessible plugs for my laptop and cellphone, nicer linens on the bed, especially the comforter (which a lot of hotels are doing now–changing to a duvet cover rather than the nasty never-washed polyester comforter)…
February 10th, 2009 at 11:58 pm
I haven’t felt threatened in a hotel, so that’s never been a concern to me. I would like some non-sports options on the telly and some non-steak options for room service. Oh, and when I call the front desk, I’d prefer to be referred to as Ms instead of Mr. But other than not assuming I’m male, I don’t view any of that as male-specific, just about providing better options for all travellers. But that might just be a reflection of where I stay and how often I stay.
February 11th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It is astounding that this is always discussed from the perspective of women when these hotels routinely tout the safety of protecting women from men. What on earth is that message sending our children? That daddy is a member of a gender that needs to be watched, and that mommy needs to be protected from people like daddy. Read this post about it: http://pghmenbloggers.blogspot.com/2009/02/hotels-giving-men-second-class.html
February 12th, 2009 at 4:15 pm
I just returned from Egypt, enlightened for a Middle Eastern country — but nevertheless one where a women-only hotel (or limited-access floor) would probably be welcomed, assuming that women there are traveling solo in the first place.
February 15th, 2009 at 10:40 am
To be fair, should we have male-only floors too?
February 16th, 2009 at 12:19 pm
For the sake of good business it makes the most sense to include in every room (of a floor or hotel) the amenities that would be difficult to move in and out of the room, and would not bother either gender. Meaning, why not just have a better make up mirror in every room? I’m sure most men wouldn’t notice or care, it could even have the option of turning on half the lights if all are unneeded. Most hotels can’t afford to push away willing male customers just because of some bath salts and light bulbs.
As others here have mentioned, some women really enjoy things that are stereotyped as for-the-guys. We like to play video games, go online, and read magazines that aren’t just about relationships and appearances. Why not let us have both?
It would make more sense to have a storage closet/room stocked with baskets which include all the extra beauty products that women like to have to get ready, but don’t necessarily want to pack. I know I almost always forget to bring a necessary toiletry item and it is less than convenient to run out and buy something only to end up forgetting it in the hotel anyway.
As for the extras being free, I wouldn’t mind paying 5-10 dollars to not have to worry about packing all those things. Which would be a good way to pay off those make-up mirrors and tech upgrades in every room.
As for safety and noise problems, if the hotel staff can’t take care of this, you probably shouldn’t stay there again anyway.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:04 am
[...] question, however, recently surfaced in the post “How large is the demand for female-only hotel floors?” in the blog Upgrade: Travel Better and the comments are quite interesting. They ranged from women [...]
September 15th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
“The Premier’s women-only rooms come with curling and flat irons, bath salts and loofahs, nail files, a vanity kit, yoga mats and women’s magazines (O, Self, Cosmopolitan)–all at no additional cost. The bathtub is oversized, and there’s a stool at the sink (with makeup lighting) so women can sit while doing their face.”
There’s a growing contingent of males who would use loofahs, vanity kits, yoga mats, etc., and no, they’re NOT all of a certain persuasion.
Why not substitute Vanity Fair for O and Cosmo and sell this as a gender-neutral spa room?