Hotels go women-friendly - Hotelscapes Magazine
May 31, 2013
Hotels are coming up with women- friendly features for single women travellers to make their stay safe and comfortable. These programmes are being initiated not just in cities like Delhi and Goa where women feel most vulnerable but across the country and the world. Hotelscapes explores with Mr. Dipak Haksar, Chief Operating Officer, ITC Hotels:
The single lady traveler segment was gaining prominence with a steady increase in the number of travellers year-on-year, giving rise to the concept of EVA, over a decade ago, at ITC Hotels.
EVA is designed to cater to the specific needs of the single lady traveler. However, the option of staying in an EVA room is at the discretion of the lady traveler. Sustained research on the preference of this segment of travellers enabled us to arrive at the amenities and services to cater to their needs. These are reviewed periodically in keeping with current trends and demands. EVA is available at all ITC super premium luxury hotels in India with dedicated floors/wings for single lady guests and exclusive access to the floor and wing. Lady security guards and lady butlers form part of the team that enables the EVA experience.
The single lady traveler, in particular, tend to have an eye for detail and appreciate the smaller nuances like choice of colour themes in the room, choice of upholstery, magazines, amenities etc.
Whether it is providing airport assistance on arrival, to lady butlers, packing and unpacking, guidance whilst travelling within the city, aid with hiring of safe and reliable transportation, draping a sari, announcing of calls after 10 pm, a video phone in room, all form part of EVA concept. A lady butler could even get a sari and blouse stitched for a guest in case of a sudden social event. We also have a 'Dial a Chef' programme where a lady guest can ask for a meal, according to her dietary preferences.
A cocktail hour with compliments of the hotel is a service that all guests at ITC Hotels enjoy. To ensure that our lady guests can avail the benefits of this service in the confines of their floor/rooms, we created a cocktail hour trolley for the EVA floor, with beverages and hors d' oeuvres.
We do advise single lady travellers in case they are booking private cabs to ensure its done through our concierge and offer assistance on places suitable for visit, assistance with locating addresses and other specific queries that may arise.
These coupled with the fact all ITC's hotels have been accredited with a British Safety Council 5 star rating,the highest honour accorded to hotels for safety and security standards and a 'Women Aware' international certification endorsing that our hotels meet international norms specified for this segment: makes ITC's hotels the preferred choice of single lady travellers.
