Travelling can be stressful enough without having to worry about being excluded from certain accommodation options. As someone who has recently been planning a trip to Asia, I can sympathize with the frustration of searching for a place to stay, only to find out it’s female-only. It’s even more annoying when the listing fails to mention this in prominent writing, instead burying the information in small print.
No matter if you’re a man or woman, this experience is a huge inconvenience. On one hand, there’s nothing wrong with female-only accommodation, but on the other, it’s frustrating that there’s no way to filter out such options from your search results. Hostelworld used to offer this, but it seems to have since been discontinued. It’s a shame, as the ability to filter out female-only accommodation would save travelers a lot of time.
Unfortunately, it seems that booking platforms aren’t prioritizing the addition of this feature. It’s understandable to a certain extent, as it’s only a minor annoyance to read the small print. Nevertheless, for those who are already dealing with the stress of planning a trip, it’s still a huge frustration.
The situation is even worse for those who experience the opposite problem — finding a well-reviewed, well-priced place, only to discover that it’s male-only. This issue is less commonly known, but it isn’t uncommon in certain parts of the world.
It’s hard to say why exactly booking platforms haven’t implemented the option to filter out female-only or male-only accommodation. It may have to do with legal issues, or the fact that it’s not seen as a priority. Either way, it’s an issue that could easily be solved with the addition of a filter.
At the end of the day, no one should have to deal with the frustration of searching for accommodation and being excluded from options due to their gender. It’s an issue that could easily be solved with the addition of a filter, so hopefully booking platforms will take notice and make the necessary changes.