Capita Travel and Events has joined forces with female business traveller safety solutions provider Maiden Voyage to certify and showcase hotels that are ‘female friendly’.
Maiden Voyage sets standards for female-friendly hotels based on a strict set of criteria that look at both safety and comfort. With employers becoming increasingly aware of their duty of care obligations, Maiden Voyage says making an informed choice helps travel managers takes away the guess-work in choosing a hotel.
Capita Travel and Events says it will be inspecting hotels across the British Isles and incorporating those that qualify into their hotel programme.
Leigh Cowlishaw, director of supplier partnerships at Capita Travel and Events, said: “We asked travellers whether or not they ever feel at risk when travelling and 67 per cent of women said yes, compared with 19 per cent of men. Our data also tells us that female travellers form a large proportion of our customers’ travelling population – a trend which varies between customer industries. Traveller wellbeing, for all travellers, is an important part of our Smarter Working proposition, so it made sense for us to join forces with a company which is changing the way in which hoteliers approach the needs of individuals. At the same time, Maiden Voyage saw the opportunity to use our UK hotel market expertise to help source the types of properties which meet its identified criteria – Maiden Voyage research shows that women business travellers want to be treated appropriately, not necessarily differently.”
Carolyn Pearson, CEO and founder of Maiden Voyage, added: “We are delighted to be working with hotel experts, Capita Travel and Events, on this initiative and we know that the female business traveller community will thank us for helping them to identify hotels that meet their specific needs. With 51 per cent of female business travellers having reported feeling vulnerable when staying in a hotel, we know that there is a genuine need for a trusted standard. Our strict inspection process is based on hard criteria unlike other initiatives we have seen and is far from subjective. We look at physical security elements, walk the area to assess the hotel location and we expect our hotel partners to adhere to certain security measures such as not announcing room numbers out loud. With a number of high-profile cases of sexual harassment and assaults in hotels, we expect this partnership to drive change across the industry and we are already seeing hotels such as the Leopold in Sheffield and Hotel du Vin in Birmingham making adjustments such as adding a second door lock to the hotel bedrooms.”
capitatravelandevents.co.uk; maiden-voyage.com