Capita Travel and Events teams with Maiden Voyage to showcase ‘female friendly’ hotels

Capita Travel and Events has joined forces with female business traveller safety solutions provider Maiden Voyage, to certify and showcase hotels that are ‘female friendly’.

Maiden Voyage sets the standard for female friendly hotels based on a strict set of criteria that looks at comfort and safety.

As employers become more aware of their duty of care obligations, an informed choice takes away some of the guess-work when selecting hotels, and those that are deemed female friendly are also just as suited to male travellers.

“We asked travellers whether or not they ever feel at risk when travelling and 67 per cent of women said yes, compared with 19 per cent of men. Our data also tells us that female travellers form a large proportion of our customers’ travelling population – a trend which varies between customer industries,” said Leigh Cowlishaw (pictured), director of supplier partnerships at Capita Travel and Events.

“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. At the same time, Maiden Voyage saw the opportunity to use our UK hotel market expertise to help source the types of properties which meet its identified criteria – Maiden Voyage research shows that women business travellers want to be treated appropriately, not necessarily differently.”

As part of the deal, Capita Travel and Events will inspect hotels across the British Isles and incorporate those that qualify into its hotel programme.

Carolyn Pearson, CEO and founder of Maiden Voyage, added: “We are delighted to be working with hotel experts Capita Travel and Events on this initiative, and we know that the female business traveller community will thank us for helping them to identify hotels that meet their specific needs.

“With 51 per cent 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.

“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.”