Hello fellow travelers. When I am looking for a hotel in which to hang my hat one of the things I check is whether the property has an accessible airport shuttle. In my experience most of the smaller ones don’t, but it’s a good thing to check out. After all, why spend good money on a cab ride from the airport if you don’t have to?
According to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), if a hotel provides free shuttle service to able-bodied guests, they also have to provide accessible shuttle service to disabled guests free of charge. If they don't own an accessible vehicle, they either have to contract out the service through another company, or they can opt to share an accessible vehicle with another hotel.
The transportation rules of the ADA protect people with disabilities from discrimination in public transportation by organizations covered under Titles II and III of the Act. This includes both publicly-and privately-owned transportation operations. It includes the transportation operations of organizations whose primary function is providing transportation services, as well as those that provide transportation services as an incidental part of their other business functions.
As you can imagine, when the accessibility law was applied to airport shuttles hotel owners across the country were not happy. Modifying existing shuttles or buying new ones that have accessibility features costs the hotels a lot of money.
Travelers with disabilities, upon learning that several hotel chains were not complying, began to sue. In one example, in November of 1998, a federal judge issued an injunction requiring the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas to replace or modify its two shuttle buses because they violated the law by failing to provide access to wheelchair users.
The larger chain hotels are more likely to offer airport shuttles than are the small, independent properties. Some of the chains that offer airport shuttles are the Hilton Group, The Marriot, and the Sheraton.
Once you know that you can get to the hotel it is time to learn about the accessibility features of the property itself. That will be the topic for my next entry…