27 Jun 2017  |   07:57am IST

No roof above female travellers’ heads?

On the back of an incident in Hyderabad, where a female traveller was denied lodging at a hotel for being a single occupant, Café looks into what the local hospitality sector feels about the matter, and does to promote women travelling alone

 

Team Café

 

Being a ‘single lady traveller’ was reason enough for a 23-year-old woman from Bengaluru to have been denied ‘pre-booked accommodation’ at a Hyderabad hotel on Saturday morning. Nupur Saraswat, the young lady in question, took to social media, in a story that went viral, following the incident.

“So, I am standing outside a hotel in Hyderabad that didn’t let me stay because they realised I was a ‘single lady’ even after confirming the online booking.... Somehow they decided I was safer on the streets than in the hotel,” a Facebook post from23-year-old Saraswat stated, after she was denied her ‘pre-booked’ accommodation by a hotel in Hyderabad.

Saraswat also attached a screenshot of the hotel’s policies, wherein it is stated that ‘locals, single ladies and unmarried couples are not allowed’. However, she was not made aware of this at the time of her booking, by hotel aggregator Goibibo through whom she made her booking, and she also tweeted them to ask why it was approved when the hotel was so rigid about its policies. It seems fortunate that it happened during the day, rather than night, given the safety quotient involved.

 

A few General Managers from some of Goa’s hospitality sector share what they do to put women first:

Single lady travellers have increasingly become an important market segment in hospitality, so the recent case of indiscrimination was very surprising. We at The Park Hotels ensure that we give them due respect, privacy and security, and also ensure we tailor our services to suit their requirements. Being a luxury boutique hotel, we do get a lot of single lady travellers or groups of ladies together and we look forward to even more of them.
Saurabh Khanna,
General Manager, The Park

 

Hyatt Hotels globally have a dedicated Women Experience Programme to curate a more personalised experience for female travellers, for business or leisure. Guest-request communication cards, a service providing frequently forgotten items, new healthy, balanced menu offerings and upgraded bath amenities are a sampling of the new features available as a result of our effort to listen more to guests and provide experiences accordingly. Each of these enhancements offered are based on insights from female travellers collected by Hyatt globally and rolled out through the Women Experience programme in 2013.
Shobhit Sawhney,
General Manager, Park Hyatt Goa Resort and Spa

 

 

We strive to create a safe, secure and a cared-for feeling for all our guests. Single ladies are tagged for extra special care. Right from the airport pick up to the check out and drop back to the airport, we look after their every need. They are personally escorted to their rooms, allocating rooms closer to the lobby to ensure they are safe and secure. Assigning female staff for room service and housekeeping etc are some of the ways we try to make our single lady travellers feel cared for and taken care of.

Pranay Verdia

General Manager, Goa Marriott Resort and Spa