Female-only hotel floors began as a trend in the United States in 2010 when surveys found that female business travelers gave lower scores and a hotel in Florida began offering extra amenities on a restricted floor for women only. While some hotels have seen positive feedback from women travelers appreciating the security and amenities, the trend has also faced legal issues over claims of discrimination against men. Debate continues over whether the concept promotes outdated stereotypes or simply aims to cater to customer needs, and legal experts have noted hotels must implement such policies carefully to avoid violations of discrimination laws.

1. Trend Assessment
Katie Werner and Tracey Vang
HT 344, Section 001
Hospitality and Tourism Marketing and Sales
November 16, 2012
Trend Assessment: Female Only Hotel Floors
University of Wisconsin Stout, School of Hospitality Leadership Page 1

2. Trend Assessment
Overview of Female Only Hotel Floors
Female only floors have been up and coming, in the hospitality industry, for just a little
over a year now. According to the Huffington Post,”…London Hilton Park Lane reportedly first
introduced the service back in 2003 but ditched it after little uptake.” In the United States this
idea started in 2010 when, general manager Ken Kaylor of the Wyndham Boca Raton Hotel in
Florida, began reviewing his guests surveys and found that the lowest scores were coming from
female business travelers. This hurt the hotel since 50% of its business travelers are female.
Afterwards, Kaylor did some research by using focus groups to understand what female
travelers wanted. He found out that they “were looking for something extra to make them feel
special and make them feel safe,” so he concentrated on adding those to the hotel. The
guestrooms that currently occupy the “women-only floor” in the Wyndham Boca Raton Hotel
incorporate bath sheets, a robe and slippers, makeup mirrors, women-friendly magazines, silk
hangers, aromatherapy candles, as well as female-friendly channels such as Oxygen, TLC, and
Lifetime. Other hotels offer nail polish, curling irons, and yoga mats as well. There are now
female only hotel floors that offer restricted access. There is a programmed elevator or hall key
card and only those who have the right key can enter that floor and have access to the
rooms.Women have worked long and hard for equality in the workplace and have earned
respectable and responsible positions in companies. Women make up 40-50% of global
business travelers (travelmaestro.covingtontravel.com). Because women are traveling more
often and alone hotels are recognizing that female travelers appreciate and demand different
amenities compared to male travelers.
As female only floors become more popular among women business travelers, it is
starting to spread across the nation and even internationally. This is definitely reaching the
scope of the female population. In some cases, besides having a women-only floor hotels are
also reserving a lounge for females to prevent them from “getting hit on” or so they can just
relax and have a drink. Women-only floors are providing women with security and peace of
mind knowing that they are the only ones that can access their floor, this is also beneficial for
them if they are traveling alone. There are plenty of females who are taking advantage of this
trend and hotels are getting positive feedback from them. However, not everyone is viewing
this as a positive addition to the hospitality industry and are questioning if this growing trend is
a good or bad idea. Los Angeles attorney, Gloria Allred said, “It is discrimination you are
excluding men from the lounge. Are we going to have male-only lounges as we used to have?
No. What we want are equal rights. Not more rights, not less rights, but equal rights.” She also
goes on to say, ”Business establishments have to be open to everyone, women say they feel
more secure on a floor that is off-limits to men, but that goes back to stereotyping of men: Men
as sexual predators, women as fragile, needing to be protected. We don’t need to go back to
the '50s where we had this kind of stereotyping.” There will is always going to be some type of
dispute over this issues but we feel that hotels are just serving that segment of their market.
Donny Deutsch of CNBC’s The Big Idea said, “It’s also a great idea, they’re in the business of
helping and serving their customers. This is catering to women’s needs. It’s hospitality. What is
wrong?” Today people will take both sides of this issue, some will think it is a good idea and
some will not. However, since this concept exists and there seems to be no going back people
might as well embrace this idea or at least have an open mind about it because it is here to
stay.
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3. Trend Assessment
Impacts of Female Only Hotel Floors
Not all of the kinks are worked out with this new trend yet. There was one case where
the Bella Sky Hotel was ordered to close its female-only floor following the complaint of a man.
The gender and equality board of Denmark ruled the women-only floor to be discriminatory
and illegal. Going along with this case, Marybeth Bond, National Geographic Author and
founder of gutsytraveler.com stated, “"I have seen the hotel industry cater subtly to women
without being patronizing, for example by putting shower caps and nail files in the room, and
adding a room service menu expanded beyond hamburger and fries to include a big salad. Why
not have standard rooms and extras being offered at the front desk? We've lived through
fighting for our equal rights and this is making us unequal.” The takeaway from this case is to
research and clear this idea with an attorney before going ahead and putting it into action. If
you do think about it discrimination is treatment or consideration of, or making a distinction in
favor of or against, a person or thing based on the group, class, or category to which that
person or thing belongs rather than on individual merit. That seems to be what this trend is
doing, women are getting the special treatment and men are not. However, we also want to
point out that the intent behind this concept isn’t to treat men with less respect or authority
than women but to market to a segment where hotels were getting low scores and by coming
up with this idea it has significantly raised those numbers. I’m sure they would find a solution
for men if their numbers started dropping too.
The next case I found was at the JW Marriot in Grand Rapids, MI. In this case the issue is
if female-only floors are legal. A Michigan Civil Rights Commission spokesperson, Harold Core
said he wasn’t sure, “You cannot deny a person services just because they are male or female,"
Core said. "In a lot of cases, there could be a nondiscriminatory reason where a hotel would
have that kind of set-up or policy.” He finished by saying, “can imagine if this is something
they're announcing publicly, it is something that will either come to a court or come to our
commission.” The takeaway from this case is just going back to discrimination and equality. It
stereotypes men and women, it makes men look as though they are “predators” and women
look as though they are “vulnerable.” Women are saying by having floors that only they can
access they will have peace of mind and a sense of security. Couldn’t they have peace of mind
and a sense of security in any other normal hotel room? It just seems that men are being
somewhat degraded by having this floors established for only women. Ultimately, it’s up to the
courts to decide if this issue is legal but the issues behind this trend could steer it in the wrong
direction. A case study that is outside of the hospitality industry deals with female only
Residence Halls at colleges across the nation. This is geared towards more adolescent women.
The Residential Education Director of Regents Hall (Female only hall), Jen Mathews said,
“Regents Hill Hall is a women-only residence. Single-gender halls can provide a more
comfortable living environment for students who feel pressured to socialize around members
of the opposite sex and helps promote camaraderie among your hall mates.” In another article
the L.A. Times reported “The justification that most schools give for not allowing men and
women to be roommates is that it causes too much trouble for the Housing Office when the
torrid romances — which are clearly guaranteed in these situations — come to their inevitable
end.” The take away from this case is that students need to balance their school and social life.
By having female only residence buildings they will be able to focus and not get distracted by
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4. Trend Assessment
having males around. College females also won’t feel pressured by their peers and can have a
sense of comfort in that.
Interview:
Instructor, Bob Davies of the University of Wisconsin Stout
1) Do you think femaleonly floors are a growing trend in the hospitality industry? Why?
Please explain.
Answer:
o Female only floors are growing only in cities that need it, larger cities like New
York, Atlanta, and Chicago
o Not growing so much in Europe, if at all then maybe England
o Menomonie for example would not need to follow this trend
o I don’t think Minnesota would need to either
2) Do you believe female only floors are impacting the hospitality industry today? Please
explain.
Answer:
o If hotels can learn to market to women, then yes, I believe female floors can
impact the hospitality industry in a positive way
o Some questions hotels need to ask are: Where would women want to stay and
for how long? Do they want resorts? Do they want a spa located on the
property? Is the property going to offer women’s weekends?
3) Do you think female only floors are offensive to male guests?
Answer:
o No, not if it’s in a large city, there should not really be an issue
o In order for this trend to succeed the demand needs to be there
4) Do you think female only floors will significantly impact the hospitality industry in the
future? Please explain.
Answer:
o How many hotels still have water beds?
o It is definitely market demand not guest demand that determines this
o To fully answer your question, to decide if it is a long term trend is unknown
because it is also expensive to keep only women floors
5) In your opinion, where do you see female only floors going? Please explain.
Answer:
o I travel frequently and am seeing less women traveling
o Hotels need to think realistically
o What if women do not want to be on that female only floor?
o Then what are hotels going to do?
o Will it be a great investment or a waste of space?
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5. Trend Assessment
Professor Davies brings up valid points that I think need to be considered when
questioning the impact this trend can have on the business landscape. He had commented
outside of the interview that when continental breakfast was introduced several years ago no
one knew if that was going to stay or fade away and surprisingly it stayed and now almost every
hotel offers continental breakfast, guests demand it and expect it where ever they go now.
Female only floors are similar in the fact that it is a new trend that has not been tested out
before. Sure, like any issue there are going to be people who support it and people who do not
support the trend. Hotels are looking at this trend from a marketing and revenue generating
point of view though. Hotels do not want to offend male guests and are simply doing what they
are supposed to do, show guests hospitality; in this case they are paying close attention to
female guests’ wants and needs. I think if men demanded certain items the hotels would listen
and cater to them too but I do think that men are less demanding then women.
This trend is starting to pop up everywhere internationally. According to the Huffington
Post this trend or these types of services are appearing in Singapore, New York, Copenhagen,
Vancouver, Washington, and at the Portal Hotel in Brisbane, Australia which includes only
women staff on the floor. Like Professor Davies had predicted it is a trend that so far only large
cities are catching on to. I am not quite sure how much the trend is going to change. Maybe
male guests will pay to have special gift baskets in their rooms with their favorite things?
Maybe the LGBT population will get their own floor for similar reasons as the female only
floors? Only time can tell where this trend is going, but currently it looks like it is a booming
trend that is not going away anytime soon.
I think in order for hotels to stay ahead of their competitors they will need to assess
each female stay on the female only floor to continually know what women demand, have each
woman fill out a quick survey possibly. At the moment it seems like only television shows
women like to watch, certain foods like chocolate and salads, and certain toiletries and
pampering products are being offered for the extra cost of $30-$55 added onto the room rate.
Knowing that women like to feel special and like to be pampered maybe hotels can add a little
package to this. Possibly offering a discount at the spa? Possibly offering a discount at the hotel
restaurant? Once a hotel finds out the demands of female travelers I think that is when hotels
will generate revenue. Hotels need to know that what women want continues to vary that is
why I suggested the survey so that hotels can be on top of their game and always offering
women what they want.
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6. Trend Assessment
References:
Celizic , M. (2007, May 18). Discrimination debate: Women-only hotel floors. Retrieved
from http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/18735108/ns/today-travel/t/discrimination-debate-women-
only-hotel-floors/
Gargiulo, S. (2012, March 20). Women-only hotel floors tap boom in female business
travel. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/07/business/women-hotels-business-
travelers/index.html
Hartmann, M. (2010, March 15). Should colleges let men & women share dorm rooms?.
Retrieved from http://jezebel.com/5493748/should-colleges-let-men--women-share-dorm-
rooms
Jen, M. (2012).Housing and residence life. Retrieved from
http://housing.wsu.edu/reshall/regents
Kelly, T. (2011, October 14). Women Only Hotel Floors Now a Growing Trend. Retrieved
from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/14/women-only-hotel-floors-_n_1011473.html
Perry , M. (2012, October 8). Markets in everything: Hotels offer women-only floors.
Retrieved from http://www.aei-ideas.org/2012/10/markets-in-everything-hotels-offer-women-
only-floors/
No Author. (2012, November 2). No-man’s Land: The Rising Trend of Women-Only Hotel
Floors. Retrieved from http://travelmaestro.covingtontravel.com/2012/11/no-mans-land-the-
rising-trend-of-women-only-hotel-floors/
The Houston Chronicle (2007, May 24). Hotel's 19th floor is women-only, but is it legal?
Retrieved from http://ehotelier.com/hospitality-news/item.php?id=11120_0_11_0_C/
Interviewed: Professor Bob Davies
Instructor and Program Director of Golf Enterprise Management at the University of Wisconsin
Stout, School of Hospitality Leadership
Phone: 715-232-1480
Email: daviesb@uwstout.edu
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