Reprint of article in USA Today

TRAVEL SECURITY FOR WOMEN

By Marybeth Bond, author Gutsy Women: More Travel Tips (Travelers Tales)
www.gutsytravleler.com

In the past decade the number of women traveling for business or pleasure has grown dramatically. An estimated 71.1 million American women traveled at least once in the last year, according to the Travel Industry Association of America (TIA). They represent more than 39 percent of all business travelers.

Women are not only traveling more often, they are also traveling differently than ever before.  They are paying their own way, they are traveling without male companions, traveling with female companions and traveling alone.  What is the most compelling issue they face when traveling?

“Safety is one of my major concerns when I travel. I plan ahead so I can be self sufficient and not need to ask for help.  I assume a confident, no-nonsense attitude,” says avid traveler Chistine Calagna, 41, San Francisco, California.

Sixty one percent of women pleasure travelers feel personally concerned about the safety and security of travel in general, compared to 49 percent of men pleasure travelers, according to a  TIA report.

 Here are some ways to pack more peace of mind and security into your travels.   

Hotel Safety Tips 

• When calling for reservations, ask if the rooms have double-locked doors, peepholes, and magnetic-strip card keys. Also inquire about night security and a guarded parking lot. If the hotel rents rooms by the hour, find another accommodation. 
• Request a room with a good location. The safest and most convenient rooms are clearly visible from the elevator or near a center of activity. Rooms on the first floor or that open to the outdoors, such as a sliding glass door onto a patio or poolside, are a greater security risk. Ask for a room that is not at the end of a hall. 
• When you enter your room, check the fire escape and test the window to ensure it is locked. Always keep the door locked with the deadbolt and chain when you are in your room. 
• Inexpensive rubber door stoppers, available at any hardware, offer low-tech security. Pack two. Wedge one under your main door to prevent anyone from entering. The second door stopper can secure the door to an adjoining room.
• Room service order forms can advertise your gender; fill out the form with only your last name and first initial.  
• To discourage anyone from entering your room  when you go out for the night, leave a light and the radio or TV on and the "Do Not Disturb" sign on the door. (Of course, you forfeit the chocolate on your pillow and turn-down service.)
• If your hotel doesn't have magnetic strip-card keys, avoid displaying your room key in public places—on the restaurant table next to you, on the bar while you order a drink, or on a chair by the swimming pool—where it could be stolen or a predator could read your room number.  
• It is not wise to let the hotel staff into your room while you are in it alone. If someone knocks on your door, don't open it to see who it is. Leave the door shut and look through the viewport. Ask the person to come back later when you're out. If the employee insists on entering, call the front desk to confirm his or her identity and ask for what purpose staff needs access to your room. 
• Avoid using stairways where you could be isolated in a lonely stairwell. If a man gets in the elevator in the lobby with you, use your intuition; consider getting off and taking a different elevator to your floor, if you feel uncomfortable. 
• Ask bellhops about the safety of walking from the hotel to a nearby restaurant, movie theater or pharmacy. They are often the most reliable source of information about the neighborhood. Also, don't hesitate to ask them to walk you there. Your safety is worth a good tip.  
• If you ask, your hotel will offer you an escort from the lobby out to your car. 
• Before you go to bed, prepare for a rapid exit from the room in the dark in the event of a fire or other emergency. Place a jacket or sweater, your purse, and your room key by the door, where you can pick them up quickly.

Rental Cars

• Carry a cell phone and keep it within easy reach while in the car. Before you begin driving, especially after dark, dial in the emergency number 911, so your phone is pre-programmed to summon help if needed.  
• If you will be arriving at night, rental car companies can arrange for someone to accompany you to and from parking lots. 
• Ask for an up-to-date map and familiarize yourself with the route to your first meeting or hotel. Write directions in large print. Trying to read in a poorly lit car can be difficult or dangerous, and you don’t want to be forced to pull over to figure out directions.  
• Ask the rental car representative which neighborhoods can be dangerous and should be avoided. Then cross them off on your map, so you don’t accidentally drive through or stop in an unsafe area.  

Driving 

• Plan your driving time during daylight hours and lock your doors when you get into your vehicle. Do not sit in a parking lot and eat, work, or sleep. This makes you a target. 
• When entering your car, be aware, look around you, and check the back seat of your car. Make sure no one is hiding inside. 
• If you are parked next to a van, enter your car from the opposite side. Many killers attack their victims by pulling them into their vans. 
• Be sure to keep your gas tank at least a quarter full. Refueling regularly will keep you from having to hunt for a gas station in a neighborhood you might otherwise avoid.  
• Restrooms at truck stops, gas stations, and public rest areas can be unsafe. Look for moderately priced hotels that are likely to have a lobby, as they will usually have a clean public restroom, as well as other amenities such as phones, soft drink machines, and newspaper dispensers.  
• While driving, if someone yells or honks at you, indicates that there is something wrong, or bumps your car, do not stop. Drive to a well-lit, busy place, and then check it out.  

Taxis 

• Catch taxis at official taxi stands at airports, hotels, train stations, and bus stations. Unmarked taxis, referred to as “gypsy taxis” can be dangerous. Cab passengers in unmarked taxis have been victims of robbery, rape, and kidnapping.

Airports 

• Manage your luggage so you can maneuver easily through airports, parking lots, or waiting at taxi stands. If you are overloaded with heavy baggage, you are an easier target. 
• Crime in airport parking lots is increasing. Look for parking spaces under lights, close to the terminal. At some airports the “off-airport” lots are safer. The shuttle bus picks you up at your car, takes you to the terminal, and drops you off at your car again. If it is dark and you feel uncomfortable, ask the driver to wait until you are safely inside your car. ****

More hotels try to offer what women want: Security, luxury
By Barbara De Lollis, USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — The latest Danielle Steel paperback atop the bedside table at the Hamilton Crowne Plaza here wasn't left behind by a rushed guest.

Hampton Inns

Women now account for about 43% of business travelers, and hotels are taking note
Last year, the hotel turned its 11th story into a women-only floor on weekdays and began stocking rooms with items of special appeal to some female guests: novels by Steel and Nora Roberts, magazines such as Shape and Bazaar, slippers to go with the regular silky robe, potpourri in the bathroom and a special room-service menu.
Lobbyist Rosslyn Hooten, who has stayed on the floor several times, says she's not drawn by the girly frills. But she does appreciate the restricted access. Elevators open only for guests with key cards programmed for the floor's 29 rooms.
"It gives you that added security," she says. (Business Connection video: Hotels know what women want)
Some 25 years after women started traveling for business in significant numbers, hotels are seeking new ways to court increasingly demanding female business travelers. In some cases, the pitch is overt, like women-only floors. In most cases, hotels are broadly incorporating improvements with special feminine appeal. They're offering upgraded beds and linens, lighter menu options and small conveniences, such as wash mitts instead of wash cloths.
Hilton and Hampton Inns, for example, last year installed curved shower rods after research showed that women tend to place higher value on cleanliness than men do, spokeswoman Kendra Walker says. Curved rods create more space so that the curtain doesn't cling to the guest.
"Hotels are absolutely thinking of us," says frequent traveler Doreen Rosimos of Fitzwilliam, N.H. She says "things generally seem more pretty" in the hotels where she stays. Among the upgrades: nicer soaps, "plusher, prettier beds," better hair dryers and more "chick flicks" on hotel TVs.
Women have high expectations
Stakes are high.
Women account for about 43% of business travelers, according to the Travel Industry Association. They tend to be well-heeled consumers with higher expectations than men. The average female business traveler is a baby boomer with a bachelor's degree, earns up to $75,000 and belongs to one or two frequent hotel guest programs, according to a 2003 New York University survey.
The study also showed that female business travelers were not feeling valued by the travel industry.
Bjorn Hanson, head of PricewaterhouseCoopers' lodging consulting practice, says women worry less about price, making them particularly valuable as customers. Also motivating the current pitch for women's business: The traditional chains fear losing their business to the growing boutique hotel segment.
A few years back, the notion of catering to women didn't involve much. When Accor marketing executive Carol Kirby joined the company in 1994, one of the first things that she did was have skirt hangers added to closets in Motel 6 rooms.
But finding a successful strategy for appealing to women has grown more complex. "They expect much more today," says hotel consultant Cheryl Thompson Griggs of Optimum Rating.
Where improvements show up
Still, women are seeing improvements in certain areas:
•Security. Women are finding more hotels offering to have bell staff escort them to their rooms or assigning them rooms near elevators, shortening their walk down isolated hallways, Hanson says.
More front desk staff are using discretion in telling incoming guests their room numbers. Rosimos, the business traveler from New Hampshire, says she's impressed with the Doubletree near the Detroit airport because clerks there either whisper or point to her room number, practices she views as vital to her security.
"Hotel clerks who say my room number loudly never get a return visit from me," she says.
•Better bathrooms. Curved shower rods are only part of it. Many hotels are installing counters that aren't as deep, Hanson says. Normal counters can frustrate women when leaning over to apply makeup.
The new counters generally have raised edges to prevent water and makeup tubes from rolling off.
Many hotels also are installing better lighting in bathrooms to help morning routines, he says.
•Branded toiletries. Hilton hotels now offer Crabtree & Evelyn products "to cater more fully to women's preferences," Walker says. Marriott and Renaissance hotels now offer Bath & Body Works aromatherapy products. Sofitel rolled out Roger & Gallet products. A year ago, Starwood's W Hotels began offering Bliss products after buying the spa brand.
"Women eat it up," Starwood spokeswoman K.C. Kavanaugh says.
Susan Jacobsen, from Alexandria, Va., business development director for InsideCounsel magazine, says she gets the amenities she wants as well as a sense of security at her favorite hotels, none of which make an overt pitch to female business travelers.
She recently checked in to a room on the club floor at the Ritz-Carlton Boston Common paying about $425 a night. She says it's worth it. The club floor provides free breakfast, hors d'oeuvres in the afternoon and wireless Internet. Most of all, she appreciates the security, since the floor requires a programmed key card.
"The club level has all sorts of advantages. It doesn't just apply to women travelers," she says.
Opportunity to do more
Not every woman is as impressed by the industry's efforts.
Franziska Gomez of Philadelphia has been traveling for five years, flying every week, and is usually disappointed by her room. She typically stays in chain hotels that cost at least $200 a night.
"Almost all hotel rooms are poorly designed around women's needs," she says, citing poor lighting in bathrooms and too few electrical outlets.
Rates, she says, don't offer predictable guidance. Sometimes rooms that cost less than $100 a night offer a full-length mirror, yet she often can't find one in pricier hotels.
A few hotels like Hamilton Crowne Plaza are reviving women-only floors, a concept abandoned in the 1980s after women refused to be segregated. Some found the concept offensive.
Crowne Plaza executives, meanwhile, are monitoring the performance of women-only floors at two hotels that have launched them: the Hamilton in Washington and another near the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. At both hotels, women already made up a high percentage of guests.
Vice President Kevin Kowalski says the women-only floors appear to be getting a high proportion of repeat guests, but the chain is continuing to evaluate the effect on customer loyalty.
"It may be something we roll out on a broader scale," he says.