October What Would You Do? 

By Jennifer Allen

What Would You Do:  The pool lift’s out of order.

If you’re the hotelier, you’re caught off guard—it worked the last time you checked.

If you’re the guest, you’re frustrated—you wrangled your family, got everyone into swimsuits, and now you can’t even get into the water.

So… what happens next? How should management respond? And what would you do as the traveler on the other side of this?

Here’s what our community had to say…

While it turned out to be a very common issue, we didn’t hear many solutions. A few people suggested calling maintenance and updating the guest when it’s fixed, but in many cases a fix like this won’t happen during the guest’s visit. 

An Instagram response recommended working with a partner hotel that may be willing to share a pool. Kristy Durso thought transferring rooms to the new hotel completely, with some compensation for the trouble, may be the most seamless option.

A disabled traveler said she would ask for help transferring to the floor and then slide into the pool, but getting out is harder and hotel staff may not feel comfortable helping with a physical transfer.

As a disability mom who travels often and has encountered only a handful of working pool lifts, I can validate the concern. Lifts seem like a thoughtful addition to help all enjoy the pool, but they’re not only worthless when they don’t work: they’re misleading. I would prefer to know in advance that the pool wasn’t for us, rather than arrive and find out we can’t use it. I’m not bold enough to ask for any sort of compensation, but I feel like my kids deserve that. It’s a big disappointment when you’re nine. They’d settle for an ice cream bar from the hotel shop.

Kristy Durso came through with a practical solution – the ADAPTS. While the sling may not be a perfect solution, it could be used in a situation like this to safely get the person in and out of the water.