Corporate women make the best customers

Le femmes, especially female entrepreneurs that make up half of all business travel execs in the U.S., are very demanding and increasingly bigger, let alone the fact that they are willing to shell out more for their safety, healthy food and comfort, a situation that’s yielding larger benefits for hotel chains.

U.S. hotels have always been forced to focus their attention and promotion on male consumers, yet they have begun to implement some changes in security, appearance and luxury in order to meet the demands of an ever-growing female clientele.

“In the past, we used to design hotels for men with power and money to burn, but we now have a new breed of consumers: women over 27 years old,” says Jurgen Bartles, interim general manager of Le Méridien Hotel. Mr. Bartles adds that back in the year 2000, around 40 percent of American executives in business travel were women, a figure expected to hover 50 percent in 2002. In Europe, that same ratio held a meager 25 percent in 2000.

Expotel, a hotel booking dealer, is also switching its attention on meeting the needs of businesswomen traveling on their own. In response to complaints filed by women who feel unsafe in hotels or don’t have essential items in their rooms, the company has launched out what it calls a “female awareness” campaign.

Based on a questionnaire, the campaign asks women how they have been treated in certain hotels. “Hotels are now getting fired up,” the agency reports and adds that lodging facilities have responded positively to the need of improving their women-only offers as many of them have put copies of the questionnaire in their desks. “Many hotel chains have jumped on the campaign’s bandwagon and are doing good,” Expotel underlines.

New building designs in such chains as Hilton and Millennium are paying heed to their female guests, including conveniences like double-key doors and wickets, some customers say.

Dawn Jenkins, from U.S. software giant Computer Associates who usually travels for business reasons to Europe and the States, asserts that feeling “safe and at ease in a hotel before the next morning’s meeting is key.” Jenkins prefers huge facilities like Hilton and Marriot, though service varies dramatically depending on the host country.

In La Méridien, Mr. Bartles –who proudly owns up he was raised by his mother and five aunts- does not make a short shrift of women’s decision-making power.

Chains have now introduced a new sign reading Art+Tech in a good deal of rooms of some hotels in London. That means the room is outfitted with spacious deluxe bathrooms, chic rooms spruced up in glassware, stainless steel and wood, and equipped with giant TV screens and huge beds.