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First women-only hotel in Saudi Arabia opens

For a country that goes to such great lengths to segregate unrelated men and women, it took Saudi Arabia a long time to hit on the idea of women-only hotels.

  • Agencies
  • Published: 16:20 March 19, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • The hotel offers plush lodgings with a full-range of health and beauty facilities.
  • Image Credit: Reuters
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Riyadh: For a country that goes to such great lengths to segregate unrelated men and women, it took Saudi Arabia a long time to hit on the idea of women-only hotels.

The kingdom's first hotel exclusively for females opened on Wednesday, offering plush lodgings with a full-range of health and beauty facilities.

"Inside this physical structure, we are all women. We even have bell-women. We are women-owned, women-managed and women-run, from our IT engineer to our electrical engineer," said Executive Director Lorraine Coutinho.

"This is meeting a very big demand. There are women's hotels all over the world, from Berlin to the United States to everywhere," she said.

New rules announced in January allow women to stay in standard mixed-gender hotels without a male family member in tow, but bureaucracy and conservative family values mean few have been able to make use of their new-found freedom.

"This meets the Saudi woman's need for a place to stay as she moves around her country," he told a large pack of male journalists who stomped around rooms delicately adorned with incense candles, rose-red fabrics and bas-reliefs of cherubs.

Prices range from 350 riyals ($93) per night to 979 riyals, with weekend "spa break" rates for around 2,000 riyals, though the hotel is located some distance from central Riyadh.

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