Read the article below about a survey of businesswomen staying in hotels. Five sentences have been removed from the article. For questions 8 – 12, choose the correct sentence and move it into the gap. There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use.
Hotels Failing Businesswomen
Hoteliers should take note because they are facing serious criticism! Women account for more than half of all business travellers, but hotels are not doing enough for them. This is evident from the results of a questionnaire distributed to hotel guests by the Business Travel Association. These show that the number of complaints made about the way women guests are treated is increasing.
The Bartonsfield Hotel in London also conducted a recent survey of UK businesswomen, which reveals that 70% feel they receive an inferior service. 8 The attitude of hotel staff made them feel out of place in public areas; for example, 62% chose to eat in their rooms because they were made to feel uncomfortable by staff when dining alone. 9 Four years ago, for example, a similar survey had revealed that a significant number of women travelling alone and wishing to use the hotel restaurant were actually turned away.
Many of the suggestions for improved services put forward by the Business Travel Association are relatively simple. 10 Placing tables in restaurants in a way that allows the head waiter to introduce guests to one another, so they can choose to sit together over a meal, was a further suggestion. Guests in the dining room would then have the opportunity to meet up with others who might, for example, be attending the same conference, or have the same business interests.
Wendy Manning, executive manager of the Bartonsfield Hotel, agreed with the Business Travel Association that hotel star ratings should be influenced by the level of service they offer to female business guests. 11 'Our survey highlighted the unwillingness of many women to air their views if they are treated badly,' Wendy Manning pointed out.
A group of influential businesswomen recently met to discuss the results of the Business Travel Association questionnaire. They suggested that businesswomen should not hesitate to make it clear if they have a problem. 12 Once clients have gone, it is all too easy for the issue to be ignored by hotel managers, and it will also be forgotten by the overworked business executives themselves.