5 Tips for Making Your Hotel Appeal to Solo Women Travelers

Take these steps to help solo women travelers feel comfortable and safe at your hotel.

Online searches for “female solo traveler” increased by six times during the four years prior to the COVID pandemic and are expected to return to those levels by 2022, according to a 2022 survey from Solo Female Travelers, a global community of 140,000 women who travel solo.

Many female guests are business travelers. Others vacation solo to:

• Enjoy freedom and flexibility (90 percent)
• Take a break from everyday responsibilities (86 percent)
• Challenge themselves (84 percent)
• Indulge in self-care and “me-time” (83 percent)

“It’s time the travel industry normalizes solo travel for women,” said Meg Jerrard, one of the co-founders of Solo Female Travelers in an article on the site. It is not niche, it is mainstream, and the industry needs to better understand what women traveling solo need, and adapt their offer accordingly, rather than assuming and offering the wrong product.”

Appealing to solo women travelers can also lead to bookings well beyond solo travelers.

“Women make the overwhelming majority of travel bookings, for themselves, for their families, for their parents, for their colleagues and for their friends, and represent 70% of hotel website visits, says Solo Female Travelers. “They are the real travel influencers.

“Building trust with women offers opportunities to connect at a deeper level with the decision maker in travel beyond the solo trip.”

Read on for five tips to make your hotel appealing to solo women travelers.

1. Price competitively

Around 94 percent of millennial women spend an hour a day shopping online, and 89 percent monitor retailer’s websites for sales before they buy, according to a retail shopping survey by Small Business Trends.

“With this thrifty mindset, it will be hard for hotels to entice female travelers if their rooms are priced well above the competition,” says hospitality technology company Amadeus.

Amadeus recommends staying on top of the local hotel market with your hotel’s on-the-book occupancy vs. competitor’s occupancy data gleaned from a business intelligence software tool.

2. Eliminate the single supplement

Many hotels in tourism hot spots charge solo guests a single supplement to make up for a potential loss of revenue. That supplement can drive away potential solo women guests.

If your hotel charges a single supplement, “it may be time to convert a standard room or smaller underused space onsite into a few single occupancy rooms that can welcome solo travelers for a fair price,” says Amadeus.

3. Offer social events that appeal to solo guests

Your hotel can appeal to solo travelers in general and women in particular by hosting happy hours in the lobby with games and icebreaker activities, says Amadeus.

Alternatively, designing your lobby or common space with multiple seating areas can be enough to encourage mingling among your solo guests. Many travelers say they want to get away from it all, but many also look to meet new people and learn a new culture,” recommends Amadeus.

4. Create a safe and secure environment

Women travelers are vulnerable and have valid safety concerns. Let solo women know that your hotel is on top of safety and security. Equipping your hotel with up-to-date security and surveillance systems and maintaining 24-hour staffing at the front desk helps women travelers feel safe and secure, says Amadeus.

Other ways to help solo women travelers feel safe to include offering after-dark airport pick-up service, abundant lighting in hallways and parking lots and providing keyless entry systems in place of plastic key cards, which could end up in the wrong hands if lost.

5. Offer group sightseeing

Provide access to local sightseeing tours that include other travelers to help solo travelers feel more comfortable exploring your hotel’s city or region.