The report, ‘What it’s like to be a woman in travel’, is a first-of-its-kind deep dive into the experiences of women working in travel in 2026, with almost 500 people who identify as women across travel, taking part.

Safety and behaviour at events remains key – in addition to the 20% who said they had felt unsafe on a work trip, 38% of women said they had felt uncomfortable while at a work event, on a fam trip, conference or in the work place.

Comments largely centred on concerns around arriving late at night, walking alone (to hotels, stations, car parks), poor hotel security, or being the only woman in male dominated spaces, sometimes with alcohol involved.

And it seems the burden of safety planning falls heavily on women. Many describe having to constantly risk assess, choosing hotels with 24 hour receptions and internal corridors, checking how far the car park is in the dark, asking for rooms near lifts and not on ground floors, and avoiding certain venues or late night activities.

Meanwhile 22% of women said they had experienced inappropriate behaviour from colleagues; 16% from clients and 21% from suppliers.

Asked who they believed was responsible for providing a better duty of care in this instance, respondents were split – 35% said the event organiser, 54% their own employer and 58% the perpetrator’s company. 

And 40% said they would have felt more safe if alcohol hadn’t been supplied at the event.

Elsewhere some of the many comments from respondents in the survey included:

“I was on a road trip with a male colleague who had been with the company for decades and was ‘old school’ sales. He tried to put his hand on my knee at dinner and I swiped it away and left. Still had to drive with him.”

“At a very well-known annual travel conference… I had a male ground facilities employee enter my hotel room unannounced via my balcony doors while I was in the shower. I ran out the main door before he could get to me… It’s just crazy that on a business trip at a 5* resort I can’t stay in a hotel room alone without worrying about safety.”

“Being referred to as ‘darling’ / ‘lovely’ / ‘little lady’ despite being the lead of the trip”

“I was once on a hosted fam trip in a remote region… A powerful man, who proceeded to make inappropriate comments throughout dinner to a group of female agents, then insisted he escorted me to my room despite my polite and repeated declining. Once outside my room, I all but had to run to shut the door behind me.”