![]() ![]() “The bigger chains do better with this,” says King. If all the rooms are booked, then they can call other hotels in the area to get a room, maybe send the customer to the other Marriott, that kind of thing.” But your room that you reserved, with all the specific accommodations you requested, ought to be there when you arrive. “So if someone comes in and demands it, they’re not supposed to get that room. They’re supposed to take your request offline, if you use an Internet portal, and have that roll-in shower for you,” says King. “Since the 2010 ADA Standards for Accessible Design, hotel reservations are supposed to be better. “People who have a new injury or onset of disease who are now using a wheelchair or scooter may not know they have to specify, ‘I need an accessible room with a roll-in shower,’ or ‘I need a tub,’ and even those who do specify that on their reservation can have it get messed up,” says King.Īnd yet, even when people know exactly what they need, they still might not get it. Access Board’s advisory committees.Īshley Lyn Olson is passionate about travel. But sometimes people who aren’t as savvy can run into major aggravation, says Kleo King, senior vice president of Accessibility Services for United Spinal. Olson, a para since she was 14, is a savvy traveler who knows how to ask the right questions to get the access she needs - and whom to ask. It’s not good enough to just ask if a hotel has a shower bench - you have to find out if it’s big enough, and even if it has a back. “If you need something really specific, when you make a reservation, talk to someone in housekeeping or maintenance, since they know the hotel intimately,” she suggests.īe very specific, recommends Olson. She has learned a trick that usually works when reserving an accessible hotel room. So that means there’s a huge gap between me and the mattress! All of their rooms are like this, it’s their general standard.” Where’s My Room? “Then I go to the bed and there’s a 2-inch-high, 2-foot-wide platform all the way around it. Once, while staying at a chic hotel in downtown Los Angeles, she made a big deal about her bathroom needs. ![]() “There’s no requirement for bed height by the ADA, which blows my mind.” A Note About Hoyer Lifts and Mattresses Definitely a pet peeve of mine,” says Olson. “Sometimes I’ll use the bed sheets as a rope and climb up the bed. And they don’t know the difference.” And why do hotel chains make sure that each room looks just like all the other rooms, down to matching bedspreads, but then have unique bathroom layouts? “Sometimes the bench is on one wall and the hand-held shower head on the other, so it becomes more challenging,” she says. “Some hotels say ‘you can roll into the bathroom, totally,’ but I need a roll-in shower. And to me, it comes down to sleeping and bathing when you travel.”īut she does have her pet peeves. ![]() There was an elevator and a roll-in shower that was pretty tight, but I could back in. “There have been so many times where hotels are supposed to be accessible, and they generally are, but maybe they have an older building,” says Olson, 30. She’s seen the proverbial good, bad and ugly in her travels, and is upbeat even in the face of marginal accessibility. As CEO and founder of the organization, the T12 para from San Ramone, Calif., documents every place she visits, both in the U.S. Photos courtesy of .Īshley Lyn Olson is passionate about traveling. Ashley Lyn Olson stayed at one hotel with a perfect bathroom, but the bed was on an inaccessible platform. ![]()
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