FEATURE
THE CRINGLETIE HOTEL
lower than usually seen in hotels so wheelchair uses are able to
reach them easily. Bathrooms all have a corner bath, again designed
for greater accessibility.A unique service at the Cringletie is the use
of vibrating pillow cases to warn deaf guests when if the fire alarm
sounds. Guests need only inform the reception that they are deaf or
hard of hearing, and will be issued with a vibrating device to connect
to a power supply and place underneath their pillow. Osborne says
the vibrating device “will get stronger and stronger, basically until
it wakes them up”. On the ceiling there is a red flashing light that
will activate, and they will see the flashing light and know that they
have to evacuate.Asked for his thoughts on how fellow hoteliers
might go about implementing similar reasonable adjustments, he
Jeremy Osborne is general manager of the Cringletie Hotel in
Edinburgh, Scotland, and has been in the hotel business since 1972.
His property offers disabled access as soon as the guests arrive
at the car park, with four dedicated parking spaces and a ramp up
to and through to the front door. In addition the front door is an
automatic sliding door and there is a chairlift to allow customers to
bypass the steps to the reception. Osborne says: “At all points we
have butler bells which are all located at an accessible level, so that
we can get people right through the reception.”
says people “have to appreciate that there will not always be major
works [necessary]” and most hotels will have even an individual room
that “can be adjusted” if required. “The main differences are all the
small extra things, such as the vibrating pillows, large telephones
with extra large buttons so that if somebody has poor eyesight it will
be a lot easier to make calls and adjustable chairs and beds.“Some
will be expensive items, but for what you’re providing in this day and
age one has to look at it from a business sense. Not only are you
looking at a wonderful facility to people who are perhaps not as lucky
as everybody else, but it is also a good business practice. There are a
All doors in the building are the correct width to allow a lot people out there with special needs, so at the end of the day they
wheelchair through - no architectural hangovers from the days when are there to be looked after and their pound is as good as anybody’s.”
allowances were rarely made. There are guidelines available to make
sure you have the right sized width of doors to get around and into
bedrooms, but “most public areas in this day and age,” he says, “will
have enough width, but bedrooms need extra width to make sure
you can get a wheelchair through, especially because wheelchairs
are becoming bigger and bigger these days.”
Some notable reasonable adjustments include modifications to
adjust bed height and a pull-cord next to the bed for emergencies.
There are full length mirrors so that guests can see themselves
correctly for dressing. Wardrobe rails for holding clothes are placed
March 2018
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