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SHe Travel Club reinvents the hotel experience for women

SHe Travel Club reinvents the hotel experience for women
Written by Amy

First Female-Focused Hotel Label Launches in the UK, Ahead of International Women’s Day

Travel technology start-up, SHe Travel Club, the first and only label to grade hotels by their efforts to meet the needs of women travellers, is launching in the UK, after a study  revealed that 90 per cent of female travellers aren’t getting what they want from their hotel stays*.

With women representing 64 per cent of global travellers** and a growing number of business travellers, SHe Travel Club label is helping hotels to adapt their services and facilities to meet the expectations of their largest customer segment.

Ahead of International Women’s Day, SHe Travel club will also debut its “Best Hotels for Women” awards, on 6 March, as part of its call to the hospitality sector to make gender equality a priority for both female customers and employees.

Through the business’ robust auditing technology and the team’s extensive experience in the hospitality sector, SHe Travel Club is helping hotels all over the world to tailor their services and facilities to meet the expectations of their female guests, empowering women to travel “safe and happy everywhere” (SHe).

Hotels pay an annual fee to be audited and certified by SHe Travel Club and are awarded either a silver, gold or platinum label, based on their performance under four main criteria: safety, comfort, services & amenities, and dining & entertainment. All hotels must meet a minimum set of criteria to be certified, including providing a SHe Signature Kit, on request, at check-in, containing sanitary products, make-up remover and nail polish remover.

In its first year, SHe Travel Club has accredited 200+ hotels in 36 countries, including the hotel chains Accor, Louvre Hotel Group, and Intercontinental Hotel Group, and the label aims to reach 5,000 certified hotels by 2026.

SHe Travel Club is the brainchild of former French diplomat, serial entrepreneur, and gender equality expert, Valerie Hoffenberg, who also created the think tank Agir pour l’EgalitĂ© (Acting for Equality) with Marie Claire magazine (France) in 2018.

Founder and president, Valerie Hoffenberg, said: “My job as an ambassador took me all over the world and I was always frustrated that the hotels I stayed in didn’t meet some of my basic needs. Simple things like supplying sanitary products and having separate shampoo and conditioner, equipping rooms with a full-length mirror and a magnifying mirror, or even just having a bathrobe and slippers to fit a smaller frame, make a huge difference to women and any guest who shares those needs or appreciates the same comforts when they travel.

“But more than that, many women, especially if they are travelling solo or with children, can feel vulnerable in a hotel. Training front desk staff to discreetly inform the guest of their room number when they hand the key over, so that it can’t be overheard by others in the lobby; providing rooms with a double lock door and a spyhole; having lit corridors and 24-hour front desk presence help all guests, especially female travellers, feel more secure. Guides to safe running routes in the neighbourhood; being close to public transport and even offering transfers to the hotel from the airport or train station are also really important.

“My own travel experiences, coupled with the results of a survey we conducted of 5,000 women, in which nine out of 10 said that hotels do not adapt their services and facilities sufficiently to meet their needs, inspired me to launch SHe Travel Club and, with my team of hospitality experts, I am looking to transform the female travel experience.”

The SHe Travel Club survey also revealed that 70 per cent of female employees, who travel for business, believe that their company should take their safety into account more when booking their hotel.

Hotels are assessed through a combination of their performance against SHe Travel Club’s set criteria and the canvassing of the hotel’s own female guests. SHe Travel Club then provides a full report along with actionable, practical, recommendations for adapting the property to better serve the needs of its female guests.

Once certified, the hotels are showcased on the SHe Travel Club website and promoted to more than 300,000 women via digital communication campaigns with the label’s partners, including Marie Claire magazine, Professional Women’s Network, Great Place to Work and Serandipians By Traveller Made.

“We want hotels to be a major driver of the social change that will create gender equality in the hospitality sector”, continued Hoffenberg.  “The label offers a real opportunity for the hotel industry. Hotels can utilise our expertise to adapt their services and facilities to meet the expectations of their female clientele, which will enable them to attract a lucrative new pool of clients and retain them. On average, we drive 10,000 visitors a month to the booking pages of the hotels in our collection.

“The endorsement that the label provides helps to communicate to customers the hotel’s commitment to gender equality.  Our partnership with influential women’s networks such Great Place to Work also helps our SHe certified hotels to reach corporates who are increasingly looking to ensure the safety and comfort of their female employees when they travel for work, as part of their CSR engagement.”

The label recently launched a partnership with the AFTM, (French Association of Travel Managers) to bring the importance of assessing the female-focused credentials of a hotel when booking business travel for women, to the forefront.

SHe Travel Club also aims to launch online training modules for hotels to help them identify and fight gender bias within their hotel, prepare employees on how to listen to and counsel victims of violent or sexual assaults and train personnel on how to ensure the comfort and safety of female guests within the hotel. This follows research which revealed that 77 per cent of women have been harassed or discriminated against while travelling for business***.

For more information and to get certified, please go to www.shetravelclub.com

About the author

Amy