Accessible Transient Lodging


Thursday, July 6, 2023
2:30 PM - 4:00 PM Eastern Time Zone

Description

As the summer vacation season is well underway, traveling and lodging is essential to everyone, including people with disabilities. This webinar will address and clarify requirements in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Architectural Barriers Act (ABA) Accessibility Standards for hotels, motels, and other types of transient lodging facilities. Presenters will provide the required number and dispersion of compliant guest rooms and suites with mobility and communication features. Presenters will also review accessibility requirements for guest accommodations, such as sleeping areas, bathrooms, kitchens and kitchenettes, storage, signage, fire alarms, and phones. Other common amenities, such as check-in counters, fitness centers, swimming pools and spas, bars and restaurants, and conference rooms, will also be covered.

This webinar will include video remote interpreting (VRI) and real-time captioning.

Participants may submit questions in advance of the webinar during the registration process or may ask questions during the live session.

Continuing Education Recognition Available

Certificate Credit hours
ACTCP 1.5
AIA HSW CES 1.5
California Architects Board 1.5
Certificate of Attendance 1.5
ICC 1.5
LA CES 1.5

Speakers:

Sarah Presley, Accessibility Specialist, US Access Board

Scott Windley, TA Coordinator and Senior Accessibility Specialist, Office of Technical and Information Services, U.S. Access Board

Questions for presenters:

1 We have many challenges on our hotel projects pertaining to guestroom bath clearances, grab bar requirements, etc. Can you spend time going over these important issues for renovations in particular? Also, when a hotel brand requires a toilet seat protector dispenser, what is the best location for this in public toilet rooms? Over the toilet is not accessible.
2 Can a connecting room be used to provide a specific category of room with a mobility option? For example, an accessible double queen room with complying bathroom is connected to a junior suite. Can they be be considered a complying accessible junior suite is: 1) the price for the junior suite with connecting suite is not more than the standard junior suite; and 2) a compliant accessible route is provided throughout the junior suite with any amenities also fully accessible? If so, I would presume that the connected double queen room cannot be counted twice as a double and as a Junior Suite. Please confirm.
3 Bed height is the most problematic issue I face as a solo traveler who uses a manual wheelchair ever since the trend has begun to favor extra-thick, pillow-top mattresses. The floor-to-mattress top measurement typically runs 30 inches or more, which is much too high for me to transfer to or from my wheelchair independently. I am aware that bed height is not regulated by ADA standards, so I'd like to know what accommodation options I may request both when I call to make reservations and what to do if I arrive at the hotel and there are barriers that cannot be remedied. What are my rights and who is responsible?
4 It seems that bed and breakfast type facilities go unchecked for compliance to these standards. Can we discuss the future accessibility requirements for B&B's.
5 Can a hotel room with a queen bed and adjacent sleeper sofa claim the 806.2.3 exception for not needing clear floor area on both sides of a bed by claiming the sleeper sofa is a second bed even when it is not open or in use during the stay?
6 What is the required depth of an accessible balcony? 48" that could allow someone using a wheelchair to enter and reverse through an open door, or 60" to allow the person to turn around in the space and be able to open/close the door?
7 As a deaf hotel traveler to major hotel chains (i.e, hotels in Marriott Bonvoy like Sheraton, 4 Seasons to name a few) in the US and Canada, I'm shocked to find out that very few hotels (despite advertising that they're accessible) have built i in necessary hearing accommodations into their hotel room and hotel common spaces. When offered "accessible rooms", the attention is paid almost exclusively to mobility disability and accommodations. What is on your "list" of accommodations for D/HOH? I'd like to see accessible telephones (captioning phones); alarm clocks with bed shakers; strobe lights that flash when doorbell rung and/or emergency evacuation; TV's and Pay-Per-View movies activated with captions; extra electrical outlets for the extra items that might need to be charged. What is on your "list" of accommodations for D/HOH? What's the minimum hotels have to do? How do we get more accommodations for disabilities beyond mobility?
8 I have been conducting a survey of people with disabilities regarding the need for Sara and Hoyer lifts in transient travel facilities like hotels and motels. Is there any kind of ADA requirement for places of public lodging to have lifts available for rent? The results of my survey so far indicate that there is a need for lifts in both hotels and travel facilities such as airports. The height of the beds (as mentioned in Question 3.) is often cited as a problem by travelers with disabilities.
9 Hotels have massive Access Barriers with Toxic Indoor Air Quality via Air Fresheners, signature scenting through air ducts, and practices like spraying mattresses down with Fabreze. This causes excruciating migraines for me and sensory issues for my autistic child. When will air quality be added to the Architectural Barriers Act?
10 Why are there no ADA guidelines or accommodations for fragrance free stays? Fragrance causes asthma, headaches, nausea and more. The Camphene in essential oils attacks the Central Nervous system. Fragrance causes many adverse health effects. Why isn't IAQ a priority for overnight lodging. Pollution causes, exacerbates, and creates new illnesses that wouldn't otherwise be created. Sir Stephen Holgate. EPA estimates indoor air is 2 to 5 and up to 100 times more polluted than outdoor air.
11 If within the mobility accessible hotel room no protruding objects are allowed in the circulation areas (204.1 & 307.2), and the only obligation in the non-accessible rooms are the obligation to provide 32" clear width at doors requiring passage [206.5.3 & 404.2.3], are protruding objects allowed in the non-mobility rooms? ...in the communication rooms? Vision and blind individuals are not likely to request the hotel rooms designed to help those with mobility issues, so are most likely to be in the non-accessible transient lodging rooms. A similar question would apply to the non-accessible hospital patient rooms in Medical Care Facilities. While obviously not encouraged, would they be allowed? Or in other words, should we inspect for them and call them out in non-accessible rooms as non-compliant barriers?

Session Questions

This session is accepting questions from registered users. After you have registered to participate in this session you can submit your questions on your Account Manager page. Please note: the number of questions will be limited and submissions will be closed well before the session starts to provide time to prepare answers.

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