Sexual Harassment in the Hotel Industry: The Need to Focus on Prevention

Abstract

Although the extent of sexual harassment in the hotel industry is not fully known, recent research indicates that hotel employees experience more sexual harassment than do workers in society-at-large and that most of the harassment is perpetrated by co-workers. The author observes that the harm wrought by sexual harassment is high both in human terms and in total dollars lost and that employers' legal protection against liability is uncertain at best. She, therefore, suggests (1) that management's focus should be on prevention rather than on avoidance of law suits and (2) that educators in hospitality programs have a responsibility to challenge both students and industry representatives to discard sexual stereotypes and be steadfastly intolerant of sexual harassment.