FEATURE | ACCESSIBILITY IN HOTELS
“ There is a real market for hoteliers to capitalise on here .” These are the surprisingly profit-aware words of Minesh Patel , policy and campaigns manager at disability charity , Scope . He is referring to ‘ The Purple Pound ’ that oft-used phrase that connotes the combined spending power of disabled households . “ It ’ s worth £ 249bn a year ,” he says .
Scope research in February 2018 found that on average disabled people spend around £ 570 a month on costs related to their impairment or condition , and specifically where hotel guests are concerned , the charity says those it supports often encounter a lack of accessible rooms . “ If this doesn ’ t change it will just drive up the cost of what is currently a very limited availability of the accessible hotel rooms ,” says Patel .
He adds : “ Paying that premium for an accessible hotel room can often fall into that category of a disabled person costs . So for us this is about hotels really thinking about disabled consumer more , whilst increasing choice of rooms available for disabled people . This can be really important to help drive down the cost room for someone going away .”
Change is slow , but the last 12 months have seen action in a few industry quarters that would suggest a gradual waking up to a problem that is far from ‘ solved ’ for people with disabilities .
Airbnb ’ s recent acquisition of Accomable , a platform that lets users find accessible hotels , vacation rentals and apartments , will expand home-renting opportunities for disabled people . Accomable co-founder Srin Madipalli , who was born with spinal muscular atrophy , says he repeatedly found that information about wheelchair accessibility at hotels was inaccurate . “ You ’ d turn up to places and the shower was tiny or there was a step to get in ,” he said . “ You have to somehow improvise for the night and find a way to not properly use the bathroom . It ’ s just really humiliating and embarrassing .”
Disability charity Revitalise says the Airbnb and Accomable deal is fundamentally important as it will lead to an “ industry shift in attitudes ” towards disabled travellers and the revenue they contribute in the tourism sector . “ For too long the mainstream holiday sector has paid lip service to the needs of disabled travellers , so it ’ s great to see a giant like Airbnb taking this issue seriously ,” it said in response to the news .
Elsewhere , in November 2017 Accorhotels employees undertook a project to map the accessibility of its hotels and local businesses on the Jaccede app – a platform which gives a guide to the accessibility of places . Anne-Sophie Béraud , the group ’ s vice president of diversity and inclusion , said at the time staff are working alongside other companies in the network to promote the “ professional integration ” of people with disabilities around the world . “ Welcoming and accepting others , growing
20 www . hotelowner . co . uk March 2018