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Ajita Shashidhar

With women travellers contributing a sizeable 15 to 20 per cent to occupancy rates, hotels are going all out to ensure the loyalty of their women guests.

"I can never forget the courtesy extended to me by Taj President, Mumbai, during the Mumbai riots. I had been there on a business trip and had to rush back to Chennai urgently. The hotel ensured that I was escorted to the airport with full security. I was quite touched and since then have been a regular guest there." - A senior advertising executive from Chennai.

"Security has never really been a concern for me, as most good hotels in India are very kind to women travellers. I am actually a sucker for new experiences rather than plush five-star service. I find Gordon House in Mumbai a very fresh and charming place to stay. The hotel has a separate décor and ambience on each of its floors which really appeals to me." — Indu Balachandran, Executive Creative Director, J. Walter Thompson.

From exclusive women lounges to all-women floors and even special menus — with women business travellers contributing almost 15 to 20 per cent to the occupancy rates, hotel groups seem to be going all out to put in that extra bit of effort to win the loyalty of their women guests.

While the Taj Group has in place special software to track the personal preferences of their women guests (things like some women travellers preferring a hard bed to a soft bed or preference for particular kind of toiletries), the Residency Group has recently launched an exclusive lounge for its women guests.

Says Roop Chada, General Manager, Residency Towers, Chennai, "We found a clear need for a separate ladies lounge, as most of our women guests don't like to entertain their guests in the restaurants especially in the evening. They prefer to remain in their rooms. Therefore, we decided to have an exclusive lounge where they could entertain in privacy, without having to go to the restaurants."

She adds that the hotel also has an exclusive floor for its women guests. "We try to place all our women guests on one floor and have security personnel to man the floor round the clock. In case any of the rooms require maintenance, we make sure that the maintenance person is accompanied by another person."

When it comes women guests, most hotels talk about security. Says V.V. Giri, General Manager, The Park Hotel, Chennai, "All our floors have cameras, and apart from that we have an equipment which records the time of entry of people into all our rooms."

While the ITC Group boasts about its call screening facilities for its woman guest, Mohan Kumar, General Manager, Taj Corommandel, Chennai, talks about video entry systems which enable female guests to see who is at the door without opening the door and so on.

But apart from security, most hotels today are also focussing on several other facets to win the loyalty of their women guests and make their stay an experiential one.

The Park Hotel in Chennai, for instance, offers baby-sitting facilities. "Our endeavour is to provide a secure home away from home. Working mothers can feel free to even travel with their children during their business trips," says Giri. "We also offer in-room massage facilities to our lady guests," he adds.

Similarly, Kumar of Taj Corommandel claims that the Taj Group takes care of a number of small things to ensure that its female guests are made to feel special. "We make sure that the rooms of our lady guests are equipped with special amenities in terms of extra toiletries, a skirt hanger, an ironing board and so on. Apart from this, all our lady executive rooms have chocolates and white wine, as most women prefer white wine. Also available is an in-room health-conscious menu tailor made for our women guests."

In fact, it is the extra niceties that appeal to most frequent women travellers. Security, in fact, is least of their concerns as they feel that most leading hotel groups take full care of the security of their women guests.

"The charming guest relations officer who used to welcome me when I got back to the hotel at unearthly hours after a series of meetings, which would be followed with a refreshing hot towel that would be sent the moment I entered my room, are gestures which made me an ardent loyalist of Hyatt Regency, Delhi," says a top woman manager of a leading Mumbai-based FMCG company.

Similarly, Indu of JWT prefers the Taj Landside in North Mumbai, whenever her work takes her to that part of the city, primarily because of its ambience.

However, there is a segment of frequent women travellers, who feel that the Indian hotels still need to do a lot in order to make their women guests comfortable. Says a Chennai journalist, "Most hotel groups in India, barring a few, are yet to bring in the concept of having house-maids to attend to their lady guests. It is uncomfortable to allow a male house-keeper to enter the room, especially at night."

She also feels that all hotels should make it mandatory to have provision for in-room tea and coffee, especially for their women guests. "Most women guests desire privacy after getting back from work, and don't like to go to the restaurant for a cup of coffee or tea or even order through room service," she says.

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