Hotel Accessibility - What are they thinking?
Saturday, September 13, 2008
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Last week I had the pleasure of staying in a luxurious hotel in downtown Toronto, one I was assured would be wheelchair accessible. I made the reservation in early August taking special care to spell out the specifics of what I needed. I had stayed there before so I knew what was available and that my requests would not be unreasonable.
I needed:
Well it wasn't. When I arrived, I was told that the room had been upgraded to a Gold Suite for the same price! I thought, "Fantastic!" until I saw the room and discovered that none of what I had asked for, was there.
I spent the next hour trying to find the right people to lower the bed, find the bath seat and manual wheelchair and plug in my charger.
By 11:30 pm, I thought all was complete, so I tumbled into bed and fell quickly asleep.
The next day, I got another rude shock. I couldn't take a shower. The towels were placed on a rack that was so high there was no way I could reach them. When I picked up the phone to phone the front desk to ask for help, I discovered it was broken. There was no way I was going to get dressed, go down to the front desk to get help, and then go back and take a shower, so I slogged through the rest of the day feeling most unrefreshed.
So much for enjoying the full benefits of the $397.95 per night room.
To see a complete view of the room, along with a commentary, please look at this video.
I needed:
- A lower bed height (they can remove the frame underneath).
- Wall plugs within reach so I could plug in my battery charger.
- A shower bench.
- The shower head hanging down instead of on the peg near the roof and,
- A loner manual wheelchair.
Well it wasn't. When I arrived, I was told that the room had been upgraded to a Gold Suite for the same price! I thought, "Fantastic!" until I saw the room and discovered that none of what I had asked for, was there.
I spent the next hour trying to find the right people to lower the bed, find the bath seat and manual wheelchair and plug in my charger.
By 11:30 pm, I thought all was complete, so I tumbled into bed and fell quickly asleep.
The next day, I got another rude shock. I couldn't take a shower. The towels were placed on a rack that was so high there was no way I could reach them. When I picked up the phone to phone the front desk to ask for help, I discovered it was broken. There was no way I was going to get dressed, go down to the front desk to get help, and then go back and take a shower, so I slogged through the rest of the day feeling most unrefreshed.
So much for enjoying the full benefits of the $397.95 per night room.
To see a complete view of the room, along with a commentary, please look at this video.
Be sure to view my other blogs:
Transit: http://wheelchairdemon-transit.blogspot.com
Health Care: http://wheelchairdemon-health.blogspot.com
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