Female friendly hotel standards introduced by travel firms in wake of harassment cases

Travel network Maiden Voyage has joined forces with Capita Travel and Events to showcase hotels it has certified as female friendly in the wake of a number of high-profile cases of sexual harassment and assaults in hotels.

Capita's research found that 67% of women travellers felt at risk when staying away, compared to just 19% of men.

Hotels recommended by the firms will have to meet a strict set of criteria addressing safety and comfort concerns. The idea is to take the guesswork away from employers seeking hotels for female members of staff.

“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.”

Carolyn Pearson, chief executive officer and founder of Maiden Voyage, added: “With 51% 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.”

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