FEATURE
because people can suffer from a wide lives. It’s not just good for those guests not something we should be asking the
range of issues such as a visual, hearing and who need it - it also makes good business government to enforce, I think it’s something
mobility impairments or a learning disability.” sense for a hotel to be accessible to as that should be done because people want to
many people as possible. do it. That is when it’s going to have the most
So how simple is it to make some small
attraction and want to it.”
changes but a big difference? Can hoteliers According to the European Commission, make life easier for their disabled guests by 2020 as much as 25% of tourism spending without committing huge sums of money to in from around: “The Shankly Hotel in Liverpool does
the endeavour? We set out to find examples consumers with accessibility requirements. autism awareness courses for their staff, so
of hotels already up to scratch with their Revitalise CEO Chris Simmonds says there there are little pockets of excellence like that
accessibility considerations - who is the best is not only a “moral obligation for the travel where you think, how did that come about?
at catering to this sizeable portion of the industry to make itself more accessible to It’s brilliant that they know how to handle it
population? disabled people”, but also a “huge market because it is a form of disability.”
So how to act, for hoteliers wishing to
Europe
is
expected
to
come
He says there are some great examples
Sheppard wants disabled guests to feel
potential as well”.
are as confident and as welcome as anybody
A statement from the Equality for Human building hotels or having refurbishments, else. For accessibility to be equal not only
Rights Commision says suitable access to that is the time when they really need to be in physical attention but also emotionally.
hotels is an important part of a disabled thinking about what they can do in terms of “I want the staff of UK hotels to get the
person’s ability to live independently, be accessible rooms. This is important in order message,” he says, “promote training and
included in the wider community and enjoy to win more business and to be able to make coaching from their own peer groups and
full lives on equal terms with non-disabled “everybody” feel welcome. actually talk to disabled to people to ask
take new steps for their disabled guests?
Tess
Gilder
says
when
people
people. By making reasonable adjustments, Robin Sheppard says it is “all about about what they want, ensuring that hotels
not only to infrastructure, but also to how equality”, and that the good news is that can do be doing everything they can to
they provide and deliver services, hotels people are now talking about it. “For a long make disabled guests feel better during
can have a big impact on disabled guests’ time it lay dormant as a non-subject. It’s their stays.”
PARK HOUSE HOTEL
are able to go away on a holiday that they thought they would
never [experience] again, because they need care like that when
they are away. When they come here we do the care and can have
a proper holiday.”
She adds that 70% of guests are returning guests, because
they “love the staff” and the “things we offer”. “If a guest doesn’t
like a particular food or are on a particular diet those are all ready for
the next time they come. I know that is easy for us to do because
we take notes for all of our guest, but in the smaller businesses, like
the boutiques, that can be done because it’s just about that extra
attention to detail that can make all the difference.”
Tess Gilder has been with Park House in Norfolk for 15 years, which
is part of the Leonard Cheshire disability group. She says despite
being a very old building, the property has all the relevant modern
adaptations such as ceiling hoists and automatic doors, as well as wet
rooms, which Gilder says are “proper wet rooms”, not just a shower
cubicle. “The surfaces need to be flat going into the bathroom,
without any ridges. It needs to be seamless even if it means having
a little ramp. As long as [disabled customers] can get over it easily
with a wheelchair, because people like to be independent.”
Gilder says that there is an on-site nurse and support workers
who offer personal care for guests with diseases like MS and
Parkinson’s. “That’s our unique factor here,” she says, “so people
March 2018
www.hotelowner.co.uk
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