Once you’ve decided where you will be going on vacation, and you’ve explored transportation options, you’re going to need to book a hotel.  You’ll probably find several that sound interesting, but you’ll need to learn a bunch of details about each of them before making a decision about where to stay.

The first thing you should know is that Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act covers access to places of public accommodation.  As you might have guessed, hotels, motels and inns fall into that category.  There are strict guidelines that these places have to abide by in order to meet the law’s requirements.  Sometimes they follow these guidelines, but sometimes they think they can do better than the code, and they often fail in their attempt.  In either case it is important for the traveler with a disability to realize that just because a place is listed as “accessible” does not necessarily mean that it is accessible for you.  It is important to consider your own disability and its limitations when you are making arrangements for hotel accommodations.

Some years ago I went to Florida to attend a wedding.  I had booked what I thought was an accessible room.  When I arrived I found that, while the room was large and relatively free of obstacles, the bathroom was not set up for a wheelchair user.  In particular, there was a shower stall with a glass enclosure, but the door was at a funny angle in respect to the room and it was set up high on a pedestal.

More recently I ran into a problem when trying to book a room in Spain from a world-wide hotel chain.  I called the toll free phone number and made my request.  The operator told me that the main office could put in a request for an accessible room with the specific property I wanted to stay, but could not guarantee that I’d get one.

 These two incidents taught me valuable lessons.  First, no matter where you are traveling, if the hotel you’re interested in booking is part of a chain, it is far better to directly contact the specific hotel property rather than going through the main office.  Second, if you are unsure about the ability of the hotel to accommodate your specific needs, it is perfectly acceptable to ask about the dimensions and layout of “accessible” rooms.

 In my next entry I’ll discuss airport to hotel shuttle services.