Marketing hostels to female backpackers

[Hostels]

I've noticed a couple of hostels marketing dorms specifically to women. Here are a couple of examples:

Smart City Hostels

• "hypo-allergenic duvets and pillows"
• CCTV
• "luxury towels, shampoo and hair conditioner"
• "hairdryers and full-length mirrors"
• "ironing facilities"
• "personal hygiene packs"
• "doctor and dentist on call 24/7"

Base Backpackers "Sanctuary Rooms"

"On arrival in your Sanctuary room you will receive a gift pack with quality hair care products and your own personal fluffy towel to use during the duration of your stay. Beds are made up with 5-star quality linen, plush pillows and most Sanctuary bathrooms feature hairdryers and movie star mirrors."

Any other hostels with similar features/marketing?

[gordo]

st christophers have an all female hostel - the orient espresso (odd name). havent been, (obviously... being a guy) it doesnt get the greatest reviews but i guess since st christophers is renown for being a party chain, eliminating the guys probably hurts the vibe.

unless its for 'those' kinda girls

hey, a guy can dream cant he?

[Hostels]

Interesting name... it took me a while to find the webpage, but here it is:

Orient Expresso hostel

photo gallery

"The third floor of the Orient has been transformed into a sanctuary for the weary female traveller. You can take your pick of a private, twin, 4-bed or 8-bed room, all of which are decked out with the fluffiest pillows, the warmest duvets and the newest mattresses."

[uktrail]

Don't guys just as much deserve fluffiest pillows, warmest duvets and newest mattresses?

Women have exerted all this effort for equality. As a man, I support that effort. But I don't agree with special treatment. Do women travellers REALLY want to be segregated?

Mixed areas promote sociability and I have been pleased to see that trend in hostels. One of the limitations of YHA hostels is that you can't even go into a dorm that is dedicated to the opposite sex. I appreciate that some people prefer to sleep in a dorm that is just their own sex, but to have a whole area of the hostel separated by sex is going back to the old days where University Halls of Residence were single sex, and (in my relatively LIBERAL Hall) women guests had to be OUT by 1030pm!

Incidentally, I have stayed at the Orient Espresso in the past. On one occasion there was a very good vibe in the mixed dorm, and people went to the theatre together. On the other occasion I was in a dorm with reclusive types so it was boring. There is no social life beyond the dorms, because there is no kitchen or common area (unless you walk 200 metres to the main St Christophers).

[santa klaus]

Originally Posted by uktrail

Don't guys just as much deserve fluffiest pillows, warmest duvets and newest mattresses?

Women have exerted all this effort for equality. As a man, I support that effort. But I don't agree with special treatment. Do women travellers REALLY want to be segregated?

I agree 100%.

There are some girls who want to be "segregated", epecially Asian girls. That´s why we have about 5% of our beds in "female dorms". Sometimes, these rooms are entirely Korean!

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by uktrail

Do women travellers REALLY want to be segregated?

Some women take the "female-only" rooms seriously. It was a common complaint at one hostel that I worked at. Most women don't mind inviting guys into the female dorm to talk or whatever, but there is often one person in the room who is furious about it -- but often too shy to mention it to her roommates.

At one hostel we even put the female dorms on the higher floors, or farther away from the entrance so that male guests wouldn't walk by them on the way to their rooms. Otherwise they tend to stop (invited or otherwise) and then the front desk would get complaints.

[Scotch Argus]

I think a lot of our female guests would hate to be put in a mixed dorm. If they're travelling with guys, then it's usually OK, even desirable, but not many female only travellers want to be put in with guys they don't know.

The original hostels - YHAs - started out as - and to a large extent in many countries still are - single sex accommodation. Then as times moved on independents started offering mixed dorms, which are obviously popular.

Personally I'd always like to offer single sex accommodation as well as mixed dorms. Some places now have only mixed dorms as it's much easier to organise. I guess I've heard too many horror stories of women who've had very uncomfortable experiences sharing rooms with some dodgy guys.

I would imagine that it depends on your market as well - we have a mix of guests and ages - the younger the backpacker possibly the less they care about it. Although I'm not sure about that really.

[santa klaus]

Originally Posted by Scotch Argus

I guess I've heard too many horror stories of women who've had very uncomfortable experiences sharing rooms with some dodgy guys.

We have introduced female dorms two years ago. Before that, we had only mixed dorms. There were only occasional complaints, usually about snoring guys. For girls from western countries, sleeping in mixed dorms does not seem to be a big deal. Since we often saw a freaked out Korean girl when she realized our dorms are mixed, we made four rooms in each hostel "female only".

I should add that we have a strict "anti-dodgy-guys" policy. There is a maximim stay of seven days (so we have no long-termers who start to behave like they own the place) and our receptionists are told not to check in people they wouldn´t want to have staying in their own flat. That´s an easy-to-understand rule and no receptionist will ever have trouble with a manager for showing someone the door - it´s important they know that, too. We rather have a few empty beds than trouble with guests who shouldn´t really stay in a hostel.

[Scotch Argus]

Originally Posted by santa klaus

I should add that we have a strict "anti-dodgy-guys" policy. There is a maximim stay of seven days (so we have no long-termers who start to behave like they own the place) and our receptionists are told not to check in people they wouldn´t want to have staying in their own flat. That´s an easy-to-understand rule and no receptionist will ever have trouble with a manager for showing someone the door - it´s important they know that, too. We rather have a few empty beds than trouble with guests who shouldn´t really stay in a hostel.

That's certainly a sensible policy - in any place there'll always be a (very small) percentage of strange people. It's much better for everyone if you have those people (usually though not exclusively guys) weeded out before they get a chance to get in an cause hassle for other guests. Of the people I've spoken to the most common problem has occurred in hostels with "long termers", not other travellers.

[Hostels]

Originally Posted by santa klaus

...our receptionists are told not to check in people they wouldn´t want to have staying in their own flat...

I know a hostel where they have that rule, and if anyone complains about a weird guest, the employee that checked the guest in has to live in the dorm room with the guest until he checks out.

We rather have a few empty beds than trouble with guests who shouldn´t really stay in a hostel.

Thats a great policy. There are a lot of hostels where they won't kick bad guests out. I think that's why a lot of US hostels have low ratings.