The views of four female general managers based at hotels in Glasgow and Edinburgh, UK, on the causes and consequences of their success in attaining a senior managerial position within their organization were elicited from a questionnaire administered in April/May 1997. From an analysis of their experience and views it is concluded that the potential for women holding senior positions within the hotel industry is significant, though the industry appears unwilling to make specific "concessions" to use this largely latent labour resource. On an individual level, the success of women in senior management is evidently due to a particular combination of motivation and enabling factors. Promotion of women at an organizational level appears more likely to be driven by external pressures in the operating environment, such as benefiting from the displacement effect of more men working abroad, than proactive, strategic development within international companies.