President Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law in 1990. The ADA gives individuals with disabilities equal access to public accommodations and transportation, government services, telecommunications and jobs. The act charges facilities to eliminate barriers to goods and services that deny individuals with a disability access to all areas of society. The ADA Checklist for New Lodging Facilities can be found on the U.S. Department of Justice website. This survey gives tips and is an outline for hotels, inns, and motels. It requires that management and staff be mindful of obstacles that may hinder a guest with a disability and it offers suggestions on how to eliminate those barriers.
Assistance for individuals with a disability is provided to guests upon request. Hotel employees can assist with reading documents, giving verbal directions, serving meals and providing other specialized services. All employees should be trained to use sensitive language when servicing all guests with a disability. When greeting a guest, each staff member should verbally identify themselves and state their position.
The ADA requires service elevators to include Braille or raised letters to assist guests who have a visual impairment. Items such as keycards should have tape or some type of raised marking near the arrow that shows how to insert the keycard into the door in order to enter into the room. For making outside calls, a telecommunications device, or TDD, must be provided to a deaf guest upon request. When an employee is accepting money from a disabled guest she should verbally identify currency, give credit cards to the customer in his hand, and identify by using a metal or plastic bar where a signature is required.
Hotels, motels and inns are required by the ADA to allow service animals into their facility. The care of the service animal is the responsibility of the owner. The employees of the establishment should not pet, feed, or distract the service animal from their prime responsibility of providing service to their owner.
The ADA does not cover lodgings that are privately owned and occupied by an owner who rents five or fewer dwellings. The ADA Accessibility Guidelines do not contain standards that relate to ambient lighting, glare control or white noise within the facility. The guidelines must be incorporated into all newly built and renovated hotels, motels and inns.
