Travel: A Room of Her Own

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Thanks in part to the increased number of female business travelers and the lobbying efforts of the BWTC, the complaints are being heard. To attract female guests, several hotel chains have introduced new features -- some quaint, some useless, but many very welcome. Crest Hotels now offers "Lady Crest" rooms. The redesigned suites are more softly decorated than regular executive rooms, and come equipped with hair dryers, makeup mirrors, women's magazines, skirt hangers, irons and ironing boards, and an expanded range of bathroom toiletries. Similarly, Ramada takes care to assign women to specially outfitted rooms in well-lighted areas, and will not put through telephone calls unless they are first accepted by the guest. Other hotel chains have substituted coded plastic cards for room keys and are more careful about revealing a guest's room number.

While the chains have been redesigning rooms and retraining staff to keep up with women's demands, the entrenched London bastions are unconcerned. "I don't believe there should be separate quarters for the ladies, like some female ghetto," says Giles Shepard, managing director of the Savoy group of hotels. "It is women who are made to feel more uncomfortable when a lot of special arrangements are made for them." Many businesswomen would agree -- so long as simple courtesy, convenience and safety are not viewed as "special arrangements."