A guest who uses a wheelchair books a room described as accessible. She telephones to confirm and is told yes, it is our accessible room.
She arrives to find a room with a bath fitted with a grab rail, a bathroom door too narrow for her chair and no transfer space beside the bed. It is more accessible than the other rooms, which is what the label meant.
She cannot use it. The hotel was not being dishonest and had never been asked to describe what accessible actually meant at that property.
1. Publish the door widths
Room, bathroom and any internal doors, in actual measurements, since this is the first thing that makes a room usable or not.
2. Publish the bathroom arrangement precisely
Roll in shower, level access shower, bath with rails or a wet room, which are entirely different and all described as accessible.
3. Publish the transfer space
Which side of the bed, how much clear floor, and the bed height, which determines whether a guest can get into it.
4. Publish the grab rail and equipment provision
What exists, where, and what can be requested, including shower chairs and raised seats.
5. Publish the route from the car park
Distance, surface, gradients, lifts and whether any step exists anywhere on it, since the room is useless if it cannot be reached.
6. Publish photographs of the actual room
Not a representative image. Guests with access needs use photographs to assess what a description cannot convey.
7. Publish the lift and evacuation arrangements
Including what happens in an emergency, which is a genuine concern and almost never addressed.
8. Publish the hearing and visual provision
Visual alarms, hearing loops, and what is available on request, since accessibility is not only mobility.
9. Publish the assistance dog position
Plainly, including where the dog can go and any relieving area, which owners expect to have to argue about.
10. Explain how to confirm a specific need
A route to ask something particular and get a factual answer, rather than a reassurance from somebody who has not measured anything.
11. Guarantee the booking rather than allocating on arrival
An accessible room allocated at check in is a room that may not be available, which is unacceptable for a guest who cannot use another.
12. Record the requirement against the booking
So it travels to the property and to the desk, rather than being mentioned once in an email nobody attached.
13. Cover the family and pet arrangements alongside
Which frequently interact, as in family room and child policy questions and pet friendly and accessibility questions answered clearly.
14. Describe the rest of the property too
Restaurants, bars, pools, spa areas and meeting rooms all have their own access, and a guest who can reach their room and not the breakfast room has still had a trip ruined by something nobody described.
15. Answer with measurements rather than adjectives
An assistant that gives actual door widths, describes the bathroom arrangement precisely, states the transfer space and bed height, explains the route from the car park and confirms the room is guaranteed reaches a guest who cannot afford to take a label on trust. The design principles sit in accessible website assistant, and the loyalty questions in loyalty programme questions hotel guests ask. See features, start at try, and the sector view sits under hotels.