TravelAbility Insider

The Intersection of Travel and Disability

Hotels

We Will Not Be Out Sanitized! How 13 Hotel Chains are Making Themselves Clean and Safe

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scrubbing with rubber gloves that are blue and spray bottle and paper towel

In an effort to allay traveling consumers’ fear of contracting Covid-19, the leading hotel chains are practically falling over one another in an effort to demonstrate that their safe and clean initiatives are developed in conjunction with top health organizations. Each hotel’s protocol starts with guidance from the Center for Disease Control. On top of that, each hotel group is also collaborating with a panoply of respected health brands for validation. Here are the details:

The Marriott International Global Cleanliness Council is made up of advisory members: a senior corporate scientist, food safety and public health for Ecolab; an infectious disease specialist at Adventist Healthcare; and the professor of food microbiology in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University.

Hilton has incorporated CleanStay with Lysol Protection, a scientific approach to cleaning practices and product offerings. Experts from Mayo Clinic’s Infection Prevention and Control team also advise and assist in enhancing Hilton’s cleaning and disinfection protocols. 

Hyatt’s Global Care Initiative involves an accreditation process by the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC) at all 900 hotels worldwide. The hospitality brand plans to introduce a GBAC STAR accreditation through a performance-based cleaning, disinfection and infectious disease prevention program.

The IHG Clean Promise team is working closely with medical experts at the  Cleveland Clinic to develop guidance and resources for hotel teams on returning to work and keeping guests safe in this new environment. 

\Four Seasons “Lead with Care” is a collaboration with Johns Hopkins Medicine International, the leading global division of health care and research. Johns Hopkins blesses its new global health and safety program and provides ongoing, real-time guidance on the evolving Covid-19 situation.

Cleanliness Protocols for 13 Hotel Groups Globally

Hotel ChainClean + SafePrimary Brands
Accor GroupAll SafeFairmont, Sofitel 
Best WesternWe Care CleanBest Western, BW Collection, Sure Stay
Choice HotelsCommitment to CleanChoice, Quality Inn, Clarion, Comfort Inn
Extended StayStay ConfidentExtended Stay America
Four SeasonsLead with CareFour Seasons hotel and resort
G6Covid UpdateMotel 6
HiltonClean StayHilton, Embassy Suites, Doubletree. Hampton Inn,  
Hyatt HotelsGlobal Care CommitmentHyatt, Hyatt Regency, Destination Hotels
IHG HotelsFresh TakeHoliday Inn, Intercontinental, Kimpton, Embassy Suites
Loews HotelsSafety and Well BeingLoews Hotels and Resorts
MarriottCommitment to CleanMarriott, JW Marriott, Ritz Carleton
OmniSafe and CleanOmni
Radisson HotelsSocial ResponsibilityRadisson, Radisson Blue
WyndhamCount on UsWyndham, Ramada, Days Inn, Travelodge, Howard Johnson

We’ve also added a cleanliness 101 session to TravelAbility Summit 2020. Find the agenda, here.

Free and Easy: The DIY Hotel Accessible Landing Page of the Future

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A screenshot of a hotel website with the words 'hotel accessibility. The photo shows a lobby with large chairs and lots of space and windows.

TravelAbility Insider caught up Pam Wright, COO of Point Hospitality which manages six hotels in California, Arizona, and Utah, including the Holiday Inn Santa Maria, who generously agreed to collaborate with TravelAbility to create a model accessibility landing page. The goal of the page is to help prospective guests with a disability to determine if the hotel meets their specific needs, while also dramatically reducing the likelihood of ADA litigation.  The concept was an Accessibility FAQ page focusing on the hotel entrance, bathroom, and sleeping rooms.  You can see it here.

Q: Tell us a little about your hotel? (number of rooms, target market audience) 
A: We are a 207-room hotel on the Central Coast of California with an outdoor pool, hot tub, fully equipped fitness room, full-service restaurant, and meeting space. Our typical guests range from leisure travelers, wholesale groups, corporate individuals, and group and government (due to our proximity to Vandenberg Air Force Base.)

pam wright, long grey hair glasses and smiling in headshot

“It was very easy to add this section to our accessible page and we feel really good about providing such detailed information so potential guests can be sure our facilities will meet their needs.”

Pam Wright, COO of Point Hospitality

Q: Does the brand’s corporate parent, IHG, have contractual restrictions about individual properties adding accessible room images or content to their website?
 A: We don’t control the Holiday Inn corporate site where we are displayed, but like almost all hotels I know, we have a mirrored “vanity” site to which we refer all direct bookings from our own marketing where we can include more robust information and, since we are generating the booking through our marketing efforts, we are not required to pay a commission.

Q. Would it be helpful for your local DMO to promote your accessible page on their accessible page? 
A: Yes. We would love the direct booking referrals coming to our own website.

Q: What staff member was used to complete the FAQ? 
A: Sales, Engineering, and GM, many of the FAQ’s were easy to answer.

Q. How much time was required? 
A: The FAQ Section took about 2 hours to gather all of the information

Q. What camera was used for photography?
A: An iPhone camera…and I think you’ll agree that photos are quite clear. We wanted to understand the effort, cost, and manpower needed so any hotel can replicate this using any smartphone camera, minimal staff time, and prepare themselves for the 75 million baby boomers who will be aging into disability in the near future.

Again, here’s the landing page. 

FAQ: The Top Questions Asked About Hotel Accessibility – Part 1

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very open and light lobby with chairs, table
First impressions matter, particularly in the hospitality business!

Where to start—it’s the question we get when asked about making hotels more accessible. Our suggestion: Start with the very first questions a traveler may have, even before they park their car. Think parking and elevators, signage and ramps.

The 20 questions, below, are adapted from a list on the ADA’s Checklist for Existing Facilities which was created by the New England ADA Center, a project of the Institute for Human-Centered Design.

Don’t stop reading here. Why? Because the intersection of design and hospitality is not nearly as eye-glazing as you might imagine. It gets pretty interesting, especially when you begin to get everyone on the same page when thinking about bigger concepts, such as universal design. Many DMO’s we’ve spoken to said they have created an Accessibility Committee, filling it with representatives from all departments to work across silos.

Accessing the Hotel & The Room

  1. How many accessible parking spaces are available?
  2. How Many Van Accessible Parking Spaces are Available 
  3. Are there any steps to the entrance of the Hotel?
  4. Is there an alternative accessible entrance?
  5. Is there a manual door at the entrance?
  6. How wide is the entry door?
  7. Is there a low counter at reception?
  8. Is there a wheelchair accessible bathroom in the lobby? 
  9. What is the door measurement in the accessible lobby bathroom?
  10. Is there an elevator? If so….
  11. What is the width of the elevator door?
  12. Is there a voice announcement in the elevator?
  13. Are there raised letters/numbers or braille on elevator buttons?
  14. How high is the highest floor button in the elevator?
  15. Are there signs directing people to the accessible entrance?
  16. What is the floor surface in the lobby? If it is carpet how thick is it?
  17. Does the accessible entrance provide direct access to the main floor and lobby 
  18. Are guide dogs and support animals welcome?
  19. IS there level or ramped access to the hotel bar?
  20. IS there level or ramped access to hotel dining areas?

Accessible Hotel Design Doesn’t Have to Be Boring and Unsexy

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A peek at the future of accessible hotel design. courtesy: Hotel Brooklyn

Hotels are challenging pre-existing attitudes towards accessibility in design in 2020 and will focus more on meaningful spaces for modern travelers, according to HotelDesign.net. An exclusive panel discussion at their upcoming U.K. Summit will give delegates an unprecedented insight into the design decisions involved in the creation of a 189-key standard-bearer, Hotel Brooklyn. READ MORE.

Our take: The Hotel Summit’s decision to lead with accessibility at their 2020 conference is spot on. Operational standards will always be the rules to play by, but the industry trend is toward more design and aesthetic freedom than ever before. We are watching the evolution of accessibility, which will become a significant chunk of the market in which 1 billion people are aging into the next stage of life—with the money and interest in traveling. 

Hotel Designs to put ‘accessibility’ under the spotlight at Hotel Summit 2020

VIDEO: Hotel Manager Uses Wheelchair for a Day

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Hotel manager talks about what he learned using a wheelchair on his own property. Screenshot courtesy Spin the Globe.

Some of the most genius ideas are the simplest ones. For example, if you want to experience a hotel from a wheel-chair-users perspective and do an ADA compliance check at the same time, sit down and spend time in a wheelchair. In 2018, the hotel manager at the Alfond Inn Hotel did just that–with some coaching from Sylvia Longmire, who writes about the accessibility of destinations in her travel blog, Spin the Globe. The hotel manager later shared his insights with hospitality students. All are interviewed on camera about the experience. To see the video, visit Sylvia Longmire’s YouTube Channel here.

OUR TAKE
 The hotel manager’s nervous smile during his on-camera interview with vlogger Sylvia Longmire is priceless—he’s humble, friendly, honest and relieved. He’s a gem in a world of hotel managers, many of whom declined the offer. Longmire worked with hospitality program students at Rollins College on the video. They contacted over 50 hotel GM’s before they found one that would agree to be recorded in a wheelchair.

As for Longmire, she is her classically, compelling professional self: An Airforce intelligence vet, a 2016 Ms. Wheelchair America who is the first wheelchair ambassador for Oprah Magazine‘s Advisory Board and the author of an accessible cruise book. Working with the Rollins students on the video, the team really connects with viewers.

“I was able to navigate the hotel pretty easily—with the right coaching,” he says with a hand gesture to Longmire that infers, Yes, I needed an expert’s help but we did pretty well as a team! Still smiling he adds, “It seems as though we are compliant.” The short video has a great message, which is: The days of not understanding wheelchair users are over. I might as well try to be compliant and then some.”