Understanding women's accommodation experiences on girlfriend getaways: a pragmatic action research approach

Abstract

In the realm of women's travel, while the accommodation experiences and preferences of female business travellers have been investigated, little is known about the female leisure-traveller in this regard. This study investigates one of the growth sectors in women's travel -girlfriend getaways (GGAs), which are holidays taken by females with other females. An action research approach was employed to explore the accommodation needs of all these female travel groups in the Malaysian context. Using a five-stage approach which included in-depth interviews, a hotel stay for three groups of women on a GGA, focus groups and secondary data analysis, four themes were identified. These themes address feminine comforts, facilitating friendship, safety, and shopping and the use of discount promotions with GGA. Findings suggest that the needs of female leisure-travellers are distinct from those of women who travel on business. Recommendations for hotel management are made to enhance the GGA experience for women, notably providing spaces and activities to facilitate female bonding.

The solo female Asian tourist

“…Meanwhile, Chiang and Jogaratnam (2005) reveal that the most influential motivating factor for travelling solo to be an adventurous experience. Researchers have attempted to provide tourism marketers and suppliers with tips for product development and service enhancement for this market segment (Khoo-Lattimore & Gibson, 2015;Khoo-Lattimore & Prayag, 2015).…”

“…However, they also show that women have to deal with undesired male attention, sexual harassment and violence (Yang, Khoo-Lattimore & Arcodia, 2015;. The growing phenomenon of all-women travel groups has also been studied to understand travel motivations and activities (Berdychevsky, Gibson, & Bell, 2016;Gibson, Berdychevsky, & Bell, 2012;Khoo-Lattimore & Gibson, 2015;Khoo-Lattimore & Prayag, 2015).…”

Me, My Girls, and the Ideal Hotel: Segmenting Motivations of the Girlfriend Getaway Market Using FuzzyC-Medoids for Fuzzy Data

“…Service providers are targeting this group of travelers better by offering female-only accommodation (e.g., Amytis 2017), all-female travel packages (e.g., JetBlue 2017) and tourism activities that are exclusive for all-female travel groups (Getaways 2017). Researchers have also begun to devote academic attention to this market (Berdychevsky, Gibson, and Bell 2013; Khoo-Lattimore and Gibson 2018; Khoo-Lattimore and Prayag 2015) using diverse research methods and epistemologies.…”

Chinese girlfriend getaway tourism in Buddhist destinations: Towards the construction of a gendered spirituality dimension

“…With respect to the difference between the GGAs and solo female travelers, the motivation of the GGAs is friendships and bonding (Berdychevsky, Gibson, & Bell, 2013;Berdychevsky, Poria, & Uriely, 2013;Khoo-Lattimore & Gibson, 2018), socialization, and celebrating life's milestones (Gibson et al, 2012). The solo traveler's motivations include the desire to escape and relax, but also to experience, discover, socialize, connect, get enlightened, and develop self-esteem and identity (Chiang & Jogaratnam, 2006;Cockburn-Wootten, Friend, & McIntosh, 2006;Wilson & Harris, 2006).…”