Accommodation services constitute an essential part of tourism activity. Types of accommodation can vary from hotels, bed & breakfast and equivalent establishments, to campsites, youth hostels and country houses, to name a few. The main goal of all of them is to provide a welcoming space that guests can consider an extension of their own home during their stay.
Therefore, it is crucial for accommodations to have certain services enabling guests to carry out daily tasks with full autonomy, privacy and comfort, thus ensuring customer satisfaction.
These spaces provide services aimed at achieving their goals through their facilities and personalized assistance service.
In the case of persons with disabilities and specific access requirements, it is indispensable not only to have an environment facilitating that autonomy and privacy, but also to offer a personal welcome service so that these persons’ needs are met, just like those of any other customer.
There is a major lack of information about accessible establishments. Provisions made for accessibility are usually the minimum required by law, and the establishments themselves tend to reject adaptations. This is due to the belief that adapted rooms will not be as profitable, and that guests with no specific access requirements do not feel comfortable in them.
This is why establishments that have planned their facilities using accessibility parameters following non-exclusive, design-for-all standards, and have an attractive and inclusive design, are the most successful in making accessible spaces profitable.
Moreover, the promotion of accessibility in these establishments makes them a model for welcoming all kinds of customers and an example of efficient implementation of accessibility.
One hotel chain that adopted accessible practices found that one of the principal outcomes of the continuous work on accessibility has been the raising of awareness regarding disability and the continuous improvement of accessibility in all areas of the company, the different departments, the head office, and the hotels. Moreover, this has been made possible thanks to the support of the Group’s Executive Committee for the initiative from the very outset.
In economic terms, the increase in room sales has meant that many of the investments have paid off in less than one year.
*From The Manual on Accessible Tourism for All
