I am experiencing a steep learning curve at the moment involving hotels and my disabled mother. She is 82, to all intents and purposes wheel chair bound and suffering what is probably Alzheimer's. I have been planning a five day break with her in June and started looking for hotels that could accommodate my mother, her two carers and me.
I realized that plenty of places would not be suitable - pub accommodation for example. I also took off my list any hotel that had a photo of a discotheque since it was not something we were likely to require!
Prerequisite was a room with access for a wheelchair and a bathroom with strong grab rails. Beyond that I could be very flexible.
Looking at the hotel websites I was able to learn a huge amount about the welcome visitors are given, how wonderful the hotel cuisine is, how much I would enjoy my morning coffee overlooking beautiful grounds. The bedrooms all looked gorgeous in the photos but not one website gave any information about disabled facilities or access.
I learnt very quickly that the hotel telephone number was frequently not at the hotel and the person I was talking too had no idea whether the "disabled access" room was accessible without having to negotiate stairs. "Oh, I should think so as it is disabled access." Just for the record this thought is not always accurate.
Secondly, I discovered that if you asked a question and the person didn't know the answer you were put on hold, with or without musak, for an indefinite amount of time. Sometimes someone would pick up the phone, say "Oh, yeah" and put you back to the original person, sometimes they didn't pick up the phone at all - or not before I hung up anyway.
So I changed my technique a bit. As soon as the call was answered I asked not to be put on hold UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES! This was hotel number five I think. The girl on the other end giggled a bit and assured me I was safe from the dreaded hold button. Good sign number one.
Followed by good sign number two - they had a disabled room with grab rails in the bathroom, she knew because she'd seen them, the room was available on the dates required as were two further rooms. I had other questions and she answered them. The question she couldn't answer (no, I wasn't testing her although it was almost tempting) she referred to her manager and gave me the answer less than thirty seconds later. It's booked.
What is the point of this post? It is NOT a rant that all hotels should have wheelchair access - there are many reasons why this might not be possible and there are, anyway, plenty of hotels that DO have good accommodation for disabled people.
No, it is only a plea that the person at reception - and indeed at "bookings" - should know what facilities there are for wheelchair users. This could be in a file marked "facilities for wheelchair users" with all the information required (plus photos if necessary) to answer telephone enquiries.
I bet you anything there's a file marked "annoying people who ask difficult questions, to be avoided at all cost."