Amani Shaikhoon, a businesswoman, said she trained 5,000 male and female Saudis in hotel work before establishing the first hotel company exclusively for women. She said that what motivated her to invest in women's hotels was the fact that 80 percent of family parties and events are usually held in hotels which have no facilities to maintain the privacy of female guests. She said the experiment of the women's hotels in Riyadh was not bad but still lacked the necessary elements of success, pointing out that she was the first woman to invest in the hotel sector in the Kingdom and the fifth in the Gulf region. Shaikhoon said she opted to invest in the hotel sector because families complain about the lack of privacy when they hold parties in hotels. “This has encouraged me to invest in the field because women naturally understand the needs of conservative Saudi families, which explains the great response shown by families to the project,” she added. The businesswoman explained that hotel work is an art that requires creativity and innovation and that women are well suited for this type of work owing to their hospitable nature. She said that the all-female staff of her company will be trained in all aspects of hotel work and services. Her company, which is still being formed, has been designed, she said, to provide all services to women, such as, bookings and reservations in hotels abroad. “Apart from the usual hotel services, we will organize conferences and festivals, too,” Shaikhoon added.
