The Market Mercifully Scotches Women-Only Hotel Floors
Sometimes the free market really does work for the betterment of society. One such example is Marriott's recent decision to scrap plans for a women-only floor at a luxury hotel the chain will open in September in Grand Rapids, Mich.
Marriott took note of the surge in female business travelers (now more than 40 percent of the business travel market) and thought it would mimic the setup it launched 2 1/2 years ago in Bloomington, Minn.
Surprisingly, no one complained about the setup in Bloomington.
But after word of the Grand Rapids plans got out, there were comparisons with white-only floors for members of the Ku Klux Klan. Marriott backed off.
Wisely so. Last time I checked, men liked to be secure in their hotel rooms, too. And critics of the plan were quick to point out that as soon as gender-based segregation is approved in one form at a public accommodation, other forms (male-only floors for corporate CEOs is one possibility) are sure to follow.
Marriott's idea seems more like a cheeky marketing creation to enlarge its share of the growing female business traveler market than anything else.
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Reader Comments
Women-Only Hotel Floors
Men and Women are different. Few physical innate differences are clear to distinguish, some differences are in average and overshadowed easily by age or individual personality, and some others are just stereotyped.
Fact is, men and women must be equal in front of the law.
The women-only floor excludes 50% of the population just because they are male.
All males would be stereotyped as potential criminals.
The constitutional laws will not (or should not) allow such a separation based
on a subjective sense of fear. Even if the fear would be justified, men and women
have the right for equal protection from danger and must have the same access to
safety. If double-standards are applied men will come in a disadvantage in terms of safety, especially the old and very young ones.
Women-only floors would be a step in the wrong direction. Sometimes just one step in a different direction can decide the future path. It would not be a good path.
Women-Only Hotel Floors
This is different swing on an old idea. Is it a good idea or just an old idea that never should have left? It is true men behave differently around women, being a mother of two sons (now adult males) I know this to be true. Why? I have no idea but they do and I for one do not want to be like a man. But, I do want the equality they have, such as being paid the same pay for the same job. I have fought for equality, as my mother and her mother before her who was a single parent long before being a single parent was considered someone who could parent.
Would I pay more for a women only floor or women only hotel? The answer is yes if I am traveling on my own. There is from what I have read more security and things I enjoy; the flowers, chocolates, and anything else offered. But, then to be equal I also believe there should be men only floors so they to can enjoy whatever they like.
Is it a change in time or a return to something that should never have left? Sometimes we change things to quickly so we can be equal and later realize that there was nothing wrong with it in the first place.
Was it a way to remind men that women are different and viva la difference?
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