Female Biz Traveler Pop. Grows, Remains Underserved

<B> Female Biz Traveler Pop. Grows, Remains Underserved</B>

By Bob Curley

As a single woman who travels frequently on business, Dorothy Kolb, a regional sales manager for the Scripps Network, has faced the type of casual harassment that many women can relate to: inappropriate comments from male business associates at meetings and conferences, propositions from fellow travelers old enough to be her father and even one scary incident where a man followed her from her plane to the car rental agency, then waited for her outside.

Almost as troubling, though, is the second-class treatment Kolb sometimes has received from staff at hotels, car rental firms and other service providers. At airline ticket counters, for example, she said men waiting on line behind her sometimes are summoned first by agents. When challenged, she said, the agent's explanation typically is, "I thought you were with him."

Companies that cater to business travelers "need to be aware that women travel on business on their own, and deserve the same respect they give to men," Kolb said. "We're not all just traveling to go skiing or to visit our boyfriends."

<B><CENTER>Taking A Feminine Focus</CENTER></B>

That's a realization that the travel industry needs to come to quickly, according to Dr. Lalia Rach, associate dean and director of the Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Travel at New York University. In a recent review of research and reports on women business travelers, NYU researchers found that the industry largely has focused on improving amenities and safety for women, but has not paid much attention to the specific needs of women who travel on business.

According to the NYU report, "this created a 'separate but equal' situation where women were marketed to with qualifying language and products. The wants and needs of women as business travelers were defined based on their gender, not on the purpose of their activity."

"Most hotels are still putting out the concept that business travelers are male," Rach said, adding that employees' attitudes not only reflect their training, but also the degree to which leadership positions in the company are open to women.

To fill in some of the gaps, NYU recently conducted a survey of 1,000 female business travelers. By asking such questions as whether women bring their children when they travel on business, whether they combine business and leisure travel, and who makes travel reservations and pays for trips, "we're going to get a much clearer picture of the female business traveler," Rach said. The survey results will be released during press conferences to be held June 30 in Chicago, Los Angeles and New York.

Wyndham Hotels and Resorts has staked a leadership position on this issue by underwriting the NYU survey and establishing a "Women on Their Way" program to study and respond to the needs of women traveling on business. Wyndham Hotel Group president Les Bentley said the chain is committed to being "the hotel brand of choice for women business travelers."

Meanwhile, research shows that female business travelers are becoming a force to be reckoned with. "By next year, women are expected to be nearly 50 percent of all business travelers, and will probably be the majority a few years after that," said Rach.

According to a 1997 report by USA Today, however, 61 percent of female business travelers said they received poor, inadequate or unacceptable treatment because of their gender, and most women believe that the service they receive is based on their sex, not on their ability to pay or their right to purchase a particular product or service.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts found in an internal study that location, reputation and price were the top three factors affluent female business travelers consider in choosing a hotel.