Hotel refuses to scrap women-only floor

A hotel in Denmark is refusing to remove its women-only floor despite being told by the country’s equality board that it is illegal. The Bella Sky Hotel in Copenhagen says its 17th Bella Donna floor will stay free of men despite pressure from the Equal Treatment Board to abandon the venture.

The board investigated following a newspaper article in which Arne Bang Mikkelsen, the hotel’s director, said the unique idea was created to make female guests feel safer. A reader issued a complaint, claiming the rule “was an expression of a highly provocative and demonising attitude towards men to exclude them from the women’s floor because some women feel unsafe around men”.

Speaking to DR News, Bang Mikkelsen said, “I thought it was funny when the case was sent to the Council six months ago and it gave us fantastic marketing around the world.

“I fail to see that this is discrimination. Are male and female toilets also discrimination? Or are women’s races discrimination?” he added. “We have 814 rooms, 20 of which on the 17th floor have been decorated by women for women. And that’s how it’s going to stay.”

“If the case is taken to the courts and the decision is upheld, we will have to look at what appeals we can introduce. Customers want a special women’s floor, and we will do what we can to comply with their wishes,” he concluded.

Comments are closed.