Room Issues Shouldn’t be an Issue in new Hotel
Unless I’m mistaken, it seems as though the height of a bed is pretty important to the overall function of a hotel. What good is getting an “accessible” room, going through the process to ensure of reserving specific rooms, even equipped with a roll-in shower when the user can’t get on the bed? A MAIN FUNCTION OF A HOTEL! Especially in a new hotel. This one I’m referring to was built within the last year, and is a national chain. They should know by now what ADA acceptable is and what is not up to the code.
A new issue I encountered was as a result of the business trying to be more “Green”. While intended for good, made it difficult for me without having finger dexterity like a “typical” person. This new feature worked the lights (another big function in a hotel room). Once inside the hotel room, the occupant is supposed to slide a door key inside this slot and leave it there and the lights in the room will work as normal. Remove the key, and the lights will turn off after a minute or so and flipping lights on no longer works until a key is placed back in the slot by the door. So naturally what happens when I try to go to the bathroom at night? I went to put my key in the slot by the front door, because bathroom light won’t turn on without it in there, and dropped the key to the floor. Also note that the slot is not at a low and convenient location but
above
the light switches. As a result I ended up using my phone’s flashlight and the TV as my only light sources. Hindsight hint: it is possible to leave the key there over night and my incident would've been avoided. I applaud the initiative to try and be “Greener” or more “Accessible”, but seems like a little more fore thought and input from some of the people the changes would impact could have prevented this.
