Heads in Accessible Beds Preliminary Results

The numbers are coming in! Brace yourself – results are both surprisingly positive and challenging.

A few months ago, TravelAbility spearheaded a pilot program called Heads in Accessible Beds to collect and share essential data on the accessibility of hotel sleeping rooms and bathrooms. These details on ADA compliant rooms address the primary concerns for wheelchair users and exchange the gamble of finding a room that meets their needs with a guarantee.

“We appreciate the leadership of TravelAbility which is helping push our industry forward and educating destination marketing organizations about how to be more welcoming and inclusive to travelers with disabilities. Improving accessibility is not only about physical spaces but includes access to information and increasing the knowledge of staff.

The Heads in Accessible Beds program has been a great entry point for us to engage our hotel partners. I’m really pleased that the compelling context and straightforward action steps have resulted in eight of our hotels taking part in this initial pilot. We’re excited to promote the results and take a step further in making a meaningful improvement to the traveler planning process.”

Claire Mouledoux, SVP of Communications, Visit Alexandria

Thanks to a collaboration with four Destination Marketing Organizations (DMOs) that are members of the Destination A11Y Club, we’re excited to share preliminary results. Here’s what we’ve found so far:

• Bed heights ranged from 7”- 38” inches. 
• None of the bed heights were adjustable.
• Only one out of the 25 hotels offered bed raisers (Westin Alexandria Old Town).
• The distance from the floor to the bottom of the bed frame ranged from 0”-18” inches.
• 21 out of 25 hotels had carpeted rooms. 
• Number of grab bars ranged from 0-3.
• The height of the grab bars from the floor ranged from 12”- 36.5” inches.
• 13 hotels had a raised toilet seat available.
• Two hotels didn’t have a roll in shower.
• Width of the doorway into the bathroom ranged from 28.55”- 42”
• One hotel didn’t have a pool.
• All hotels that had a pool also had a pool lift, except for one.