Accommodation preferences: What a Girl Needs/Wants?

Accommodation preferences: What a Girl Needs? What a Girl Wants?

February 20, 2015

A segment of the global women’s travel market is emerging in what is known as GGA - the girlfriend get away – for women who travel with other women for leisure purposes only.

University of Canterbury tourism expert Dr Girish Prayag has been investigating the trend and says safety and security are the most important issues. He will give a public lecture on the subject during the university’s Diversity Week starting March 16.

Dr Prayag says women want hotels that offer female-only staff, from housekeeping to room service, secure lifts and floor access. They want healthy options in hotel restaurants, full length mirrors and dressing mirrors with white light as part of room amenities.

“The accommodation industry worldwide recognise the importance of female customers but place emphasis on the female customer as part of the family group or as business travellers. The accommodation needs and service preferences of the GGA market have been largely ignored in the past.

“GGA customers are women travelling with their friends, family members, colleagues, and sporting team members and generally this market span across socio-economic and demographic groups.

“In 2010, Tripadvisor published its list of the top 10 GGA destinations and tourism establishments in the western world have come up with their own list of the best GGA’s. Little is known about the phenomenon in Asia but industry reports confirm that mother-daughter-granddaughter travel in Asia-Pacific is on the rise.

“I researched the market with Dr Catheryn-Khoo Lattimore from Griffith University in Australia and we found several key issues. Women want hotels to organise activities that allow the group to bond through sharing of experiences.

“For Malaysian GGA customers, hotels offering shopping vouchers and store discounts, as well as free transport to shopping malls are some of the services that would be much appreciated by this market. The market is strongly driven by motives such as friendship and bonding.

“In countries where humidity levels are high, such as Malaysia, free additional bottles of water to keep the skin hydrated which is another area where some hotels fall short of expectations.
The study surveyed 540 female travellers who had been on a GGA previously.”

Dr Prayag says results of their survey of Australia and New Zealand GGA travellers should be available later this year.

ENDS

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