I have a ton of travel sites bookmarked and travel iPhone apps loaded. I can search for hotel vacancies in Chicago and San Francisco by their number of stars, free coffee and wifi, WSJ delivery, pools and fitness centers, and whether they let pets stay. What I cannot search on Kayak or TripAdvisor or Priceline, however, is whether the desk clerk at the hotel I’m crashing at during a weekend getaway is going to give me a weird look if I walk into the lobby holding another guy’s hand. Expedia just launched a new feature to fix that.
Among the new filters on Expedia (dot com!) is “LGBT-welcoming.” It’s right there among all the other amenities you require. For now, results are limited to a few major cities including Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, New Orleans, Palm Springs, Provincetown, San Francisco, and the South Florida area, but more are coming. (Getting tagged “LGBT-welcoming” likely requires a thumbs up from the International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association.) And while other travel sites have gay sections, Expedia appears to be the first to integrate gay-friendliness as just a standard hotel criteria among all the others.
And while obvious picks like the W New York pop up, lots of boutique hotels are on here too. Which is actually no surprise, because we all know that to be truly LGBT-welcoming, you’ve gotta be chic, too.
Honestly, I just crave a hotel search feature that will allow me to book a reservation for one king bed and two male names on the reservation and not have the clerk ask me upon check-in if we’d be more comfortable with two queen beds. NO WE WOULD NOT!
David
What exactly is an LGBT-friendly hotel? I mean Marriott is owned by Mormons but if two grown men ask for one bed they’ll still gladly take your money lol
Yuki
Er… first off, go go stereotypes! (“Gotta be chic!”)
Second… is it really THAT offensive if they ask if you want two beds? I mean, the majority of people ARE heterosexual; it seems to me like a natural question to ask, and hell, I’M gay.
alex
@Yuki: I’m with you on your second point, Yuki. I worked many years behind the Front Desk at a hotel. It’s a no win situation: don’t verify the bedding and you end up with pissed straight people; verfity the bedding and you end up with pissed gay people. I don’t expect the poor desk clerk to guess the sexual orientation of guests based on superficialities.
I do like this concept and I’m glad Expedia is making an effort of inclusion. Unfortunately, they link LGBT-Welcoming to IGLTA (International Gay & Lesbian Travel Association) membership. Businesses can only be IGLTA approved if they pay the membership fees. This means 1) many welcoming hotels will be excluded because they don’t pay, and 2) the fact that a hotel pays for membership doesn’t mean their staff has been trained to be “LGBT-welcoming”.
Still, it’s a positive step, despite the flaws.
Mary Taylor
When visiting Austria myself and my then gf booked into a gay-friendly youth hostel, just because we didnt want any hassle booking a room with just one bed.
We found the hostel (Pension Wild, Vienna) very friendly, with about 50pc of the patrons gay couples or groups.
I’m not sure if we would have had any problems booking at a ‘regular’ hostel, but seeing as we wanted a hassle free holiday, we went for one that advertised as gay friendly.
Mike in Asheville, nee "in Brooklyn"
Best LGBT friendly welcoming, staff trained, cool properties at more affordable pricing, is The Kimpton Hotels Group with properties around the country. My hubby designed several of them and we have stayed at several other properties. The hotels are not Four Seasons, but they are full of amenities, great locations, popular restaurants, pet welcoming, AND THEY SUPPORT GAY CAUSES AND EVENTS THROUGH THEIR HOTEL SERVICES.
Sorry if this sounds like a commercial from them, its not. But its nice to promote people who take an active role in promoting gay causes. Its important for the LGBT community to return the support to good people and good companies.
Hugo Quezel Poirier
“I’m crashing at during a weekend getaway is going to give me a weird look if I walk into the lobby holding another guy’s hand. ”
And WHY should you care?
Are you THAT unconfident in your sexuality that it bothers you that someone MIGHT give you a weird look?
I mean come on!
Steve in Colorado
Having traveled a LOT through the years, it is nice knowing that where I lodge will probably be free from homophobic hassles and most likely have management that is sensitive to an issue should one arrive.
One holiday trip to my sister’s, after dinner I had my nephew take my bags up to my hotel room on our way to a bowling alley. About 3 that morning, there was a loud knock on the door, it swung open, and there stood the manager and a couple of guys in hotel uniforms who had “heard” I had an underage boy in my room. I can’t even go through all the WRONG inferences. I immediately called the 911 and took a picture of the guys at my door with my phone camera. They entered and tried to pry my phone away, but I made so much noise other guests came to see what was going on.
I received a large out-of-court settlement and am not allowed to mention the name of the hotel chain.
This type of rating service is needed and welcomed by me.
For those of you who take this lightly, consider traveling somewhere other than NYC, San Francisco, and Los Angeles… how about Little Rock or Memphis, where homophobia is public sport?
scott ny'er
@Steve in Colorado: That’s a terrible story. And I would NEVER think that would happen, until hearing your tale. I would, as you, just ask my nephew to take my bags up.
Crazy, how people’s imagination and/or fears take hold and create a hostile situation.
I’m glad you got a settlement. But what did you actually sue for?
Bjørn Smestad
I certainly prefer gay-friendly hotels when I can choose.
I may want to go see a gay bar or a bookstore with a gay section (or even the local gay nude beach), and the staff at a gay-friendly hotel are more likely to know that than others. Gay-friendly hotels often also have gay maps of the town etc.
I’m on holiday, so I also prefer not to have any stupid questions asked just because my husband and I are both men.
It also simply feels good to be in the majority once in a while. In the restaurant/bar of a gay-friendly hotel, it’s the heterosexuals that get mistaken for being gay and feel that they should “come out”… 🙂