Travel management firm CTI has joined forces with female traveller safety company, Maiden Voyage to highlight the risks women face when travelling on business.
The agreement follows the publication of a report from Maiden Voyage which shows that one in four female business travellers have suffered a safety related incident while on company business. This can range from theft of personal belongings to serious sexual assault.
CTI will now offer certified female friendly hotels to its corporate clients. The properties will be personally inspected and must meet the “strictest of security standards”. The criteria includes 24/7 staffed reception, double-locking hotel doors and being located in a safe area.
The agreement also means CTI has access to female business traveller safety awareness training, advice on gender specific travel policies and can offer access to the maiden-voyage.com secure network for female business travellers.
CTI commercial director Clive Wratten said: “Ensuring the safety of all of our travellers is one of our top priorities. However, lone female business travellers can face a particular set of risks that many companies fail to acknowledge.”
He added: “Our partnership with Maiden Voyage now means that we are the first travel company to have access to an independently verified collection of hotels that have been inspected for both safety and comfort.”
Maiden Voyage founder Carolyn Pearson said, “This is not about discrimination or being patronised, this is about providing pragmatic support to a section of your workforce in a sensitive way.
“Many of those women felt that it would be ‘career limiting’ to voice their concerns and so said nothing. If employees don’t get a good night’s sleep while on business travel they are not going to perform at their best the next day.”
At this year's GBTA conference in Orlando, Florida women were urged to fight gender inequality in the travel sector.
CTI was named in the top 20 of BBT’s Top 50 leading UK TMCs.