<H1> Wyndham Names Winners</H1>By Linda Humphrey
<I>New York </I>- Five female business travelers recently took home awards in the Wyndham Hotels-sponsored Women on the Move competition. The contest, billed as the "first-ever for female frequent business travelers," drew more than 1,100 entrants, each of whom had racked up at least 25,000 miles and 20 hotel nights in 1995.
Cited for their travel records (most flew about 100,000 miles last year) and travel tips, the winners convened at Manhattan's Four Seasons Restaurant to collect their prizes: a two-week vacation at any Wyndham property, 25,000 AAdvantage miles, a year-long Admirals Club membership from co-sponsor American Airlines and a $1,000 wardrobe from co-sponsor Liz Claiborne, Inc.
Wyndham also will form an advisory board of female business travelers. Composed of four female Wyndham senior executives and seven outside members-including contest winner Patricia Kincaid, Wyndham's Caren Kline, and Cathleen Moxham, senior merchandising manager for Hanes Hosiery-the board will meet at least twice a year to devise new products and programs for women business travelers.
Specially designed programs for women business travelers are catching on at other chains as well: In Miami, Carnival's Grand Bay Hotel arranges jogging partners and offers a "Corporate Women's Table" in its Grand Cafe restaurant as part of its new corporate female traveler program. In Hong Kong, the Kowloon Shangri-La now provides makeup, rollers, aerobics videos and exercise mats upon request.
"We have found in our research that women don't want to be treated differently," said Westin chairman and CEO Juergen Bartels. "They're saying, 'for God's sake, don't give us 'pink lady' rooms. And don't give us women club floors. We want to be part of the entire network.