A hotel that provides extra security measures, and in-room frills will always be popular with women travellers.

True, Scandinavia doesn’t exactly set alarm bells ringing in the way that a stay in Kabul or Kigale might. But consider this: recently I checked into a four-star hotel in Tromso, Norway with a colleague. Swipe card in hand, she rode the lift up to her room, anticipating a leisurely soak after a long day. Imagine her dismay then, when she opened the door and discovered a suitcase full of pinstriped shirts on one of the twin beds – and the male owner, snoring, in the other. (So deep in slumber, he didn’t stir when she entered.)

Back downstairs, the receptionist’s faint apology, along the lines of , ‘Oh, dear, sorry for the mix-up,’ failed to impress. What if the snorer had been wide awake and a knife-wielding maniac? OK, we’re talking worst-case scenario, but the point is, even if you’re staying in elegant surroundings in the world’s safest capitals, your own experience might prove otherwise, and it pays not to let your guard slip too easily.

Fortunately there are hotels in Stockhom, Oslo and Copenhagen waking up to the fact that female-friendly equals customer loyalty. Take the First Hotel Vesterbro. Its First Lady rooms are located close to the hotel’s elevator or stairwell. Spyholes, skirt-hangers, an ironing board, make-up mirror, bathrobe, the latest fashion magazines, a vanity kit and coveted Clarins products are all provided for female guests.

In a similar vein, the Hilton Copenhagen Airport has introduced what they call ‘Different Things for Different People’ in their Executive Rooms. Think mind, body, and spirit pampering for this one: healthy in-room snack packs, and fresh juices in the mini-bar, a thalassotherapy spa pack – staff will even bring yoga mat and weights to your room if you don’t fancy the long, lonely trudge down to the fitness centre. It’s been voted Denmark’s top hotel four years running.

The Hiilton is also in the process of launching a new food store that will allow guests to shop for food and bring it to their rooms. ‘It’s the first time I’ve stayed in a hotel and managed to stick to a balanced diet,’ says a recent guest, Martina Tengevall. This also has the advantage of avoiding having to stride alone, after dark, into a restaurant full of merrymakers and canoodling couples.

In the heart of Stockholm, is the Rival Hotel. Its claim to fame is that it’s owned by Benny Andersson, one of the ‘Bs’ in ABBA. (And yes, you get an ABBA DVD in your room.) One of the hotel’s quirks is the pillow menu, featuring nine types – including wheat and down versions – on which to lay your weary head. And as we all know, a good night’s sleep means bye-bye puffy, morale-sapping undereye bags. The hotel’s hip, informal café and bistro (it also has a bakery) will gladden the heart of female travellers weary of room-service and restaurant social Siberia.

If for female-friendly, you read ‘harmony and wellbeing’, then Haseludden Yasuragi might hit the spot. Twenty minutes from Stockholm, the hotel is styled like a traditional Japanese inn, or Ryokan, an oasis from the hurly burly of modern life. If you’re on a diet, you’ll appreciate the light, low-cal fare, and who wouldn’t relish the chance to soak away the day’s tensions in a hotsprings? Meanwhile, The Clarion Hotel Royal Christiana in downtown Oslo, is courting women travellers with rooms designed along Feng Shui principles.

But what of the SAS Radisson hotels, often the first port of call for business travellers to the Scandinavian capitals? ‘We offer a parking service, our rooms have peepholes, and beauty products that’ll appeal to women. Female-only floors were discussed ten years, ago, but they never really took off as a concept,’ says group spokeswoman Kristina Windset. It seems a modern women traveller might seek a room of her own – but perhaps not the whole floor.

www.firsthotels.com

www.rival.se