What makes a hotel room accessible

Offer dedicated disabled-friendly rooms. To ensure your hotel is completely inclusive, make sure there are disabled-friendly rooms on the first floor. These rooms should be designed to provide a safe and comfortable experience for guests with visual or hearing impairments, neurodiverse conditions, or restricted mobility.

In addition to designing rooms for wheelchair access, consider features such as sensory lighting, soundproof walls and braille signs. Consider fitting overhead hoists to make bedrooms more accessible for wheelchair users. These can make it easier for guests with reduced mobility to get in and out of bed safely. Make physical adjustments throughout the hotel. For instance, if you have a swimming pool, consider fitting large steps or a ramp instead of pool ladders.

If you have a hotel restaurant, install a wheelchair-friendly ramp or a vertical platform lift. The Ontario Building Code details precise guidelines, including measurements, for all of these features. If an accessible room adjoins to a non-accessible room, these guidelines also apply to the door between the rooms. The bathrooms in barrier-free rooms must also be barrier-free.

There must be space for guests in mobility devices to turn around, including when the bathroom door is open. Furthermore, sinks, toilets, and tubs or showers must also be accessible. The Ontario Building Code provides further guidelines for accessible bathrooms, including details about different types of bathroom fixtures.

Beds in barrier-free hotel rooms should be at a height convenient for a guest to transfer into from a wheelchair or scooter. There are plenty of rules and guidelines when it comes to designing accessible spaces—but there are things that still do not make it EASY for people to use. We learned from them what it is like to experience life when you walk with a chair. Their insights were invaluable and helped shape many of the design features in the hotel. Some of those include:.

Bathroom —There are lots to be done in bathrooms. An entry that is a minimum of 34 inches wide, raised toilet seats, a raised sink with no barrier below it and long handles on sink taps, lower towel bars, a roll-in shower with bench or shower chair, hand-held shower and additional safety bars assist with safety and accessibility. Furniture —Removing furniture and hotel room accessories to make a room more spacious, changing furniture to a lower height, providing room dimensions and furniture heights to guest for instance, the height of a hotel bed lets guests choose what they need to be comfortable.

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