The 19th floor of a new, $100 million hotel will not be restricted to female guests, after all.
A spokesperson for the JW Marriott luxury hotel said Monday both men and women will be allowed to rent rooms on what originally was planned as a women-only floor in the 340-room hotel slated to open in September.
The floor's lounge that was to be only for women also will be open to male guests, said the spokesperson, who asked not to be identified because the plans have not been finalized.
Both the rooms and the lounge still will feature amenities designed to appeal particularly to female business travelers, such as chenille throw blankets, ionic hair dryers, jewelry holders and special bath products.
The hotel said last month that the 19th floor of the 23-story hotel, being built downtown alongside the Grand River, would be reserved exclusively for female clientele, in part to give businesswomen traveling alone a greater sense of security.
Soon afterward, the hotel received a "tremendous response" from its customers and others, and the decision was made not to go forward with the gender-segregated floor, the spokesperson said.
However, Roger Connor, a spokesman for Washington, D.C.-based Marriott International, said Tuesday it was his understanding that the idea for a women-only floor was under review after hearing from guests and taking legal concerns into consideration.
The new hotel is owned and operated by direct-sales giant Alticor Inc., parent company of Amway Corp., and will function under a license agreement with Marriott International Inc.
Alticor and its Amway Hotel Corp. subsidiary also own and operate another downtown Grand Rapids hotel, the Amway Grand Plaza.
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