Bunhill: Hotel shy

BEING ONE of two men seated in a sea of women turned out to be an unsettling experience at last week's lunch to mark the launch of the Northwest Airlines Achievers Award for Women in Business. There were 200 businesswomen and, as far as I could see, the only man other than myself was David Rose of Northwest.

It was hosted by the London Businesswoman's Network (it seems that power women don't socialise, they 'network'). When the guest speaker, Emma Nicholson MP, said, 'women are better than men,' David and I quickly nodded in agreement (we were sitting together for moral support).

But I learned two depressing statistics. From Rose, that out of the 34 most senior executives at his airline, five are women - a small number, but the highest proportion by far of any American airline. And, from Angela Giveon, managing editor of Executive Woman magazine, that 68 per cent of women on business trips prefer to take room service rather than eat in a hotel restaurant on their own.

Among men, that figure is 3 per cent.

Ms Giveon has formed an organisation called Facilitator to educate hotels in making women guests feel more comfortable. On her list are things such as: valet parking, so women can avoid deserted car parks at night; ensuring that the waiter who brings room service is not a threatening hulk; and seeing to it that women get the same treatment as men from staff.

Sadly, only 50 hotels have signed up for Facilitator so far - another depressing statistic.