Solo travel has been trending in recent years, with many tourists choosing to fly half way across the world on their own to be immersed in exotic cultures. But traveling solo can sometimes be a chore, especially for women, constantly having to watch their back for their own safety. That is why a new hotel in Mallorca, Spain, is offering a paradise exclusively for women, and women only.
Som Dona Hotel is a hotel exclusively for female travelers aged 14 and above. The four-star resort provides guests with chic rooms, lounge areas, a beach-style pool, and other wellness facilities to satisfy all types of travelers – with the exception of those identifying as male, of course.
The 39-room resort has a strict “no men allowed” policy while “every single detail is women-oriented,” according to the Resort’s statement provided to Insider.
A growing number of hotels, in an effort to target single female travelers, are offering women-only rooms and floors. Whether this suggests that female travelers can only feel safe without the presence of men remains in question. Some even claim that hotels are capitalizing on women’s fears of traveling alone. They believe that regardless of which floor they are on, women should be able to feel every bit as safe as any man would.
Another issue surrounding this controversy is discrimination resulting from these single-gender floors. In Denmark, the courts did not take kindly towards the trend for women-only hotels that offer extra security along with better amenities such as large hair driers and silk robes. The Danish Board of Equal Treatment ruled that the women-only floors were discriminatory.
In the United States, these female floors are becoming more and more common at luxury hotels targeting businesswomen. However, most of the hotels that do offer the gender-exclusive floors often charge a $20 premium for feminine comfort and extra protection. Crowne Plaza Bloomington boasts an occupancy rate of 85% on the women-only floors.
Sadly, there has not yet been sufficient research conducted on the subject to either justify or condemn the single gender trend.