A U.S. hotel manager’s biggest sources of worry may center on staffing issues, maintaining supplies and keeping up with maintenance. But then arises a guest complaint that is not just a complaint but a COMPLAINT.
A recent guest at your property turns out to also be a ‘tester’, a patron (or someone posing as a prospective patron) whose purpose is to gather information about conditions potentially not in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). If this tester does encounter a list of barriers that are in violation of the ADA, ownership now has accessibility issues to correct and a lawsuit to deal with. This type of hotel, restaurant or retail visitor has become commonplace, filing lawsuits against hotels city and suburban, resort and boutique, luxury and budget, chain and independent.
If you are a general manager, hotel owner/developer or hospitality design firm, you may find yourself in the position of responding to one of these complaints. The best approach is to keep in mind that something like an incorrectly positioned grab bar may seem trivial to you, but to a disabled guest it may mean the difference between being able to use the restroom or not. With an aging population of baby boomers having the money to travel, a larger portion of your revenue may be coming from people for whom grab bars and door clearances are significant issues.
Architects who are accessibility specialists like this writer have been seeing recurring problems common to many of these complaints from testers. Over the past three years I have been giving managers and directors of engineering at a couple dozen properties some suggestions about how to avoid some of the most common complaint issues well before they get assigned district court case numbers.
“I want to book an accessible room”
A guest must be able to book one of your ADA rooms they way anyone else books a room. If your website doesn’t offer the ability to reserve an ADA room, update that website soon.
The booking options have to differentiate between a room with a roll-in shower and a room with a tub. Generally you will offer king rooms and double/double rooms with either of these two bathing fixture options. If you have accessible suites, they must also be offered through the website, even though that level of amenity and variation will more than likely require a phone call to an agent.
Communications accessible rooms are those rooms with a doorbell and strobe. Or your hotel may be offering the old portable kits that are collecting dust somewhere on the property and that want for working batteries. The infrequency of guests requesting a communications accessible room may be only a temporary reprieve if your property isn’t up to ADA standards in this department. Offer communications equipped rooms in your on-line booking system also. I have yet to see this in practice, but it’s just a matter of time.
Often desk and reservations staff are not familiar with the accessible room types available at your property and must have the training and information to be able to confidently place a guest requesting (for example) two double beds and an ADA tub, in the right room. ADA room lists need to be checked to see they are correct. Imagine a tester checking into an ADA guestroom to find that it isn’t: no clearances, no grab bars, no roll-in shower.
“My ADA room was not set up for me”
Most ADA rooms are assigned to able-bodied guests as a last resort when the property fills up. This is a good problem to have, even though you may hear a gripe once in awhile about all those grab bars. But when a guest checks in who uses a mobility device (wheelchair or motorized scooter), either engineering or housekeeping must do a few things to accommodate that guest:
- Move the hand-shower down to a low position on the slide bar so they can reach it from the folding seat.
- Install the removable seat if it is an ADA tub room.
- Make sure the window drapery wands and shade controls aren’t blocked by a chair or table that can easily be moved (by you) out of their way.
- Check that some of the towels, amenities, and in-room coffee-making items are within reach of a person seated in a wheelchair, and that menus, information binders and the TV remote are similarly reachable.
- If you are accommodating a hearing-impaired guest make sure they are in a room equipped for their needs if these items are permanently installed. If you use the portable kits, it is best to have an engineering staff person accompany the guest at check-in and set up the door knocker, bed shaker, and audio/visual device, or at least demonstrate their use. Again, staff needs to be prepared to perform these tasks.
Drinking and dining
In your bar or restaurant one of the most common complaint issues is the lack of accessible seating.
If your bar is several years old, it may have been installed before the requirement to have a low section available for a disabled guest using a wheelchair to drink with a companion at the same lower counter height. But you are still on the hook to provide at least 5% of the dining seating at tables that have knee and toe clearance and the correct height for that guest in a wheelchair. Typically this means chair-height tables without a center pedestal. In a large dining facility with distinct areas, that 5% needs to be spread out among those spaces.
Doors everywhere
In the hotels, restaurants and retail establishments I have surveyed, there is a task to be assigned to the maintenance staff when they are looking for something to do, that will pay off should one of these testers visit. Most interior doors have mechanical door closers, whether they are guestroom doors, restroom doors, or the door into the fitness center. The ADA sets limits on the force required to open the door and the speed with which they shut as measurable and adjustable criteria. Doors properly adjusted, over time will get heavier to open or quicker to slam shut. Likewise door-maneuvering clearances that have acquired a wastebasket or a plant need to be made un-impeded.
Getting a full ADA survey of your hotel, particularly if it has been decades since anything beyond a soft-goods ‘refresh’ has been done, will identify in detail the changes, both easy and difficult to make, that are required to be in full compliance with the ADA. This is valuable due-diligence when a property changes owner or flag. Even when in compliance (or mostly in compliance) a complaint can arise. In that event an ADA consultant can help you defend against the sometimes vaguely and incorrectly identified barriers.
Taking seriously the accessibility of your property in both design decisions and the maintenance of those accessible features is an integral part of hospitality. With statistics indicating that 1 in 5 adults will be disabled at some point in their lives, it is a benefit to all guests both now and in the future.
Contributed by Jack Taipala, AIA, accessibility specialist, LCM Architects, Chicago