Comments

I'm not sure that I understand why a non-smoking hotel is women-centered? Have I missed something? I thought that women still smoked these days. Recent reports in Europe suggest that more young women than young men are taking up the habit.

I wouldn't get my hopes up for a completely non-smoking hotel in any regard. In Ireland, we introduced a no-smoking law 2 years ago. No smoking at all in any indoor locations (i.e. pubs, restaurants, offices, shops, etc.). Hotels, however, could not legally prohibit all rooms from smoking, as a hotel room was considered the 'residence' of the occupant while they were there. While there is no smoking in hotel lobbies, restaurants or bars, a proportionate number of rooms had to remain "smoker friendly", for the men and WOMEN who smoke while living in their temporary residence.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at January 18, 2006 4:07 PM

I'm a big fan of Marriot hotels. I travel a lot and when I have to stay in the same place for a few days or longer, I try to find a Residence Inn. For the price of a standard business hotel you get a full kitchen, living room, free beer and sandwiches (YES, I SAID FREE BEER), and very good housekeeping service--who will even wash your dishes! They will also go grocery shopping for you (for a fee). I stayed at a Residence Inn clone one time only. I found out when I checked in that my room was not ready, the hotel did not supply shampoo, soap, or dishwashing soap, and since I was only staying one week I did not get ANY housekeeping service, (but I could get ONE set of replacement towels--yippee).

So, what's that got to do with marketing the Residence Inn to women? Nothing. That's the point. I'm a male business traveler and I get just as tired as the next person--male or female. A good hotel experience like that provided by the ResInn fits either gender. Good business is good business--regardless of the whole man / woman marketing stuff.

Posted by Mike at January 18, 2006 5:15 PM

Firstly, I agree with Tom above: why is it woman friendly to make it non-smoking? Secondly, what's this nonsense about, "...ride the trend of women, baby boomers, and geezers?" Oh c'mon! How about they just treat us as people? Some smoke, some don't; some want living rooms, some don't; some want a laundry service, some don't: none of these marks you out as male, female, Hindu, bisexual, 42 years old, of a certain skin colour etc...!!!

Posted by Mark J Foscoe at January 18, 2006 5:18 PM

I think one thing that all properties can do to enhance their appeal to women is to take a good hard look at passive security. Not just cameras that watch you get attacked but design features that lesson opportunities for foul play. Watch landscaping, parking lot placement, access and design, as well as security practices of staff. Women notice, appreciate and evangelize environments where they feel secure.

Posted by Peter Davidson at January 18, 2006 6:14 PM

I can't help but add my 2 cents...As a woman who spent many years working in the hospitality industry and as a frequent guest, I don't believe you can deliver a quality guest experience focusing on one gender or another. It's plain and simple just about the service stupid! (was that too brash?) The industry is fraught with the challenge of delivering quality and differentiated branded experiences, especially in a highly franchised environment where owners don't want to part with the all mightly dollar and care more about corner market competition than the brand. The fact of the matter is...it all comes down to the people they hire and what management expects from them. Poor managers don't expect much from their "low-wage employees" and get what they expect. Re: the women's movement - Wyndham was the first brand to really launch a women's campaign. It has less to do with product than it does service. They've tried to establish a network for women business travelers http://www.wyndham.com/wotw/main.wnt. I'm not sure how successful it's been, but it seemed to me they were on the right track.

Posted by darci at January 18, 2006 6:34 PM

Good to see Marriot leading by example and good to see you backing them up with enthusiasm. I just had a 'controlled rant' over on my blog about discrimination and the ignorance of management consultants/gurus/thinkers to address the issue, though I firmly leave Tom and you lot out as TPG really is the exception.

The Marketing Director of the company I worked at last had the great concept of starting nail, manicure and pedicure salons in airports - her idea was that while men just like to get on an overnight and go straight to the meeting, (in particular business) women are always thinking about the intracacies of their presentation upon arrival. Funny thing was, none of the pin-striped British fifty-something white-male investors who threw all their money at such revolutionaries as "Pets.com" (I mean, online PETS and pet food ... what a HUGE market just waiting to happen) and "Enron" wanted to go near the concept because they thought it wasn't 'commercially viable'(I guess they were so well informed about the commercial viability of fiber optics in 2000, too). Some were even slightly derisory. When I tried to help her (thinking this was in fact a great idea) a lot of the board members told me to focus on raising capital for 'immediate concerns' (one of which was a country hotel chain in the 'tradional' old-fashioned style of cottage inns - nice and safe except the stock tanked shortly after the fundraising by about 75%).

My point? Congrats to Marriot, and there are a host of ideas out there (such as the above), but expect a few hitches in thinking this progressively, as no matter what evidence you show some corporate execs, they sometimes just don't want to listen.

Posted by Daniel M. Harrison at January 18, 2006 7:05 PM

I'd suggest they conduct a poll with female guests. Upon checking in, have the person behind the counter notify them that if they are interested in their opinion as a traveling businesswoman. If they participate in a brief interview or fill out a fairly detailed questionnaire then they can have that night - or their first night - 'on the house'.

As far as specifics - I'd think that making it more like a resort spa (nicer soaps, bath salts, better tubs, etc.)might be a good idea. At least visually the hotel and/or rooms could be made more attractive to women. If they're traveling for business they may not have time for relaxing and hanging out, but would appreciate the aesthetics.

My wife thinks the best way to find out what they like and don't like is to ask them about it in that environment.

Heck, why not have a women-only hotel - including staff. Not so revolutionary of a concept. Curves does it for the gym, why not have a few hotels like that.

Posted by Tony May / Mayday Media at January 18, 2006 9:19 PM

With full disclosure that they are my client ... Kimpton Hotels has focused on making hotels more comfortable for women. One key feature: women only floors, to make women feel safer. Guests appreciate it quite a bit.

Posted by Steve Yastrow at January 19, 2006 3:15 AM

Taken to an extreme, I can see where this is headed...women-only and men-only facilities for almost everything. We could go Saudi Arabia's way! And then there will be another movement by women (and perhaps men), demanding that there be an end to gender segregation :)

Question - is it gender discrimination to NOT have separate facilities (ie because in a unisex environment you may unconsciously favor one gender over the other), or is it gender discrimination if you exclude one gender?

Posted by Chetan Dhruve at January 19, 2006 3:24 AM

Great topic Val and excellent comments.

Sorry to go off the subject somewhat but I wanted to share my thoughts with fellow TP regulars about something that has struck me in the last 24 hours.

Below is what I posted on my Simplicity Blog today Thursday. Hope you folks don't mind me sharing this. I guess it is about valuing what we have in our relatively affluent western society.

Forgive me if it is posted in the wrong place - I just felt this needs to be said in the world of business and what better place than TP Blog to make business folks aware?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/4575862.stm

I was watching BBC News last night and saw dreadful images of the suffering in Pakistan following the earthquake; pictures of people struggling to survive another day in their temporary tents in freezing cold weather and snow. As these people try to recover from a natural disaster their main priority is to try to stay alive. Thousands of homes have simply gone. That is real deprivation.

My mind then wandered to the many projects I have been involved in during my career addressing what we in the UK call deprivation. Our projects are about families who are struggling in poor accommodation - often overcrowded; people who are homeless; single parent families; people who are unemployed; people in poverty.

Then I thought about those people in Pakistan again.

I conclude that deprivation is a relative state to the picture in your local community, the national picture in your country or the wider world.

When I see images like I saw last night on TV I can't help feeling slightly guilty when I have a little moan - like we all do - about how it would be good to have more of something.

I think it is good that modern media allows us to see images of real suffering in situations like the aftermath of the earthquake in Pakistan. This enables us to reflect – hopefully - about how relatively fortunate we are in the UK .

I hope we can all say a prayer for those poor people whose homes have gone as they face another day, wondering if it will be their last.

I know we are constantly being asked to contribute financially to various good causes but last night on the BBC most of the experts trying to offer help in Pakistan seemed to be saying the best thing we can do is donate some money to help.

Donating money and praying are ways we can contribute in a practical way. We can all do one or both of those two things.

Posted by Trevor Gay at January 19, 2006 3:45 AM

Tony - your suggestion of a women-only hotel isn't too far off actually. In England, there is now a taxi service called Pink Lady. The taxi cabs are bright pink, they have women drivers in pink uniforms and provide the service only to women. When they drop the woman off at her residence, they wait outside until she gets safely inside before pulling off. The cost is no greater than other cabs, they've just added value to women. Safety and security value!

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The idea came after several incidents of men taxi drivers raping women who were drunk after a night out on the town.

Posted by Tom O'Leary at January 19, 2006 6:19 AM

The changing demographics, women and the boomers, chould provide all kinds of opportunities for companies to adjust their value proposition to suit these markets. It will be interesting to see how creative marketeers rise to this challenge. These are likely to be extremely savvy consumers and "one size fits all" may not be the way to go. Looks like Marriott is getting ahead of the pack.

Posted by Carlos Leyva at January 19, 2006 9:37 AM

Come on Val...show them your true road warrior stuff...like the hotel we stayed in that left the empty pizza box in the hall for three days! I am finding that in general, the lodging industry is actually getting worse, not better. I can tell almost immediately which properties are "holding the line on costs". And that, save the earth scam to try and get out of laundering your towel stuff really jerks my chain. In the last two weeks, I have stayed at one premium property that couldn't get their wireless working (I finally went down to the night auditor and talked him into rebooting the router...duh), one hotel whose only treadmill had uncontrollable speed (an adventure actually), and of course, the always present forgot to give you a wake up. I just want a clean room, good desk chair, reliable internet service, and please put the youth soccer league on a different floor.

Posted by mike neiss at January 19, 2006 10:58 AM

Hi Val...
The posting you wrote made me think of Rose, the main star of Titanic...In the film, when she, as an old lady is invited to stay in the boat and tell her story, she sets up herself with the things that really make her confortable and have relation with her personality. So she brings to the boat many suitcases with all her "stuff" which
are as much as a part of her as herself... So I believe that any place interested in business with a woman should think of this...what can a provide for a woman ( in case of the hotel ) that will make her arrange her space in a way that will reflect her personality, her ideas, emotions etc.... and if a woman is on a business trip, she will need to be in an environment that will help provide confidence and strength that she will make it, she will succeed, that she can do it...and so on.... ( that can go from a different fragrance soap....to a certain lamp....to a bowl of soup.....creativity is this case has no limits!

Good talking to you!

Take care.
Susie

Posted by Susie Dias at January 19, 2006 1:42 PM

To Everyone,

I love all these comments. I believe that everyone should have a great service experience, regardless of gender. With that said, there are differences in what people want. The companies that figure out how to differentitate themselves, whether it is smokefree, pink cabs, lighted secure jogging trails, etc. are going to be clear winners. Every hotel or business can't and won't please everyone. There can be a smoking only hotel for those who desire it. Consumers demand choices. My point about geezers, women, baby boomers, is that they each have some unique needs that someone should pay attention too.

There are unfilled needs in the market place, someone needs to plug the gap!

Keep up the dialogue!!!

Posted by Vwillis at January 19, 2006 2:34 PM

Personalised menus, taking into account the main dieting programs going on and/or most relevant especial food requirements ie. food allergies that are in society today.

Posted by Omara at January 19, 2006 10:26 PM

I'd like to comment from the perspective of an Innkeeper. We own a bed and breakfast Inn (12 rooms) in a small town. We are located 12 miles from a large tourist resort but also just 1 block from the County Courthose and Administrative offices. We see a lot of business women because they (1) feel safer here (2) like the "homey, but professional feel" and (3) clean, comfortable beds. But, we also see a lot of business men, too. This past summer we had an engineer stop by who was staying at the local hotel. For a number or reasons, he "had to get out of there and find someplace better." After staying with us, he emailed all of his colleagues and now all of the engineers (who all happen to be male,so far) stay with us and love it. So, we have found that, in many respects, men and women all want the same thing in lodging facilities, the most important being cleanliness, comfort and friendly and helpful staff. More and more bed and breakfasts are offering amenities that cater to the business clientele (male and female) and it's working.

Posted by Carol Ruddick at January 21, 2006 2:41 PM

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One thing I'd like hotels to improve: ambient noise. I don't mean the party down the hall; I mean roaring air conditioners, heaters that cycle on and off with a click and a loud whoosh, etc. I'm not overly sensitive to noise, but I don't appreciate being awakened every half-hour by what sounds like a 747 taking off over my bed!

Posted by Paula at January 23, 2006 4:47 PM

Paula--RIGHT ON!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by Mike at January 24, 2006 7:10 AM