Disabled People: Hotel Facilities

Baroness Grey-Thompson Excerpts

Monday 23rd February 2015 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB)]

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Thomas, for tabling the debate this evening, mostly for very personal reasons. Travelling as I have over the years, I have spent a lot of time looking at accessibility. I have spoken previously about use of the internet and technology in helping disabled people, but even now I probably spend more time worrying about the bookings I have made than trying to find hotel rooms in the first place.

One of the problems is the interpretation of what is reasonable. In the lead-up to the debate I spoke to Tracey Proudlock, who is an access consultant. She reiterated the points about reasonable adjustment and that what people want is very variable. Some hotels she has worked for ask for one wheelchair parking space per accessible hotel room, while others do not. She mentioned the complete inconsistency in standards. This is especially the case in new-builds. Many building projects simply slip through the net because there is not enough time to monitor or people do not know what they are looking for. Her company is part of an inclusive hotels network which is looking at providing standards, and I believe that it is essential that this becomes better known. I do not think small hotels necessarily know where to get the right help. Also, some of the larger hotel groups do not do as good a job as they possibly could.

Recently I booked a ground-floor family room for my family, and when we arrived you could see the utter panic on the receptionists’ faces because they did not know where to put us. We were shoved into an accessible room where we found a single bed and a chair bed. We could not actually leave the room because the staff were trying to bring in a mattress to put on the floor for my daughter to sleep on. When I went back to reception to say that I wanted a family room, I was told that they did not realise that disabled people had families; they thought they just had carers. We were eventually moved to a perfectly adequate family room.

If one thing annoys me more than anything else, it is mirrors in hotel rooms. I have absolutely no idea why they are always set at the right height for the six foot six workman who put them up. I can understand it in a non-accessible room, but not in a room that is meant for a wheelchair user. I have also experienced oddly shaped shower seats that do not reach the water of the shower, accessible rooms that were beautiful but at the top of steps, and wet rooms that seemed to soak the entire floor. I visited a friend recently at an older London hotel. I found, not uncommonly, that I had to use the back entrance, where I had to manoeuvre down a one-in-four concrete ramp past the rubbish bins. I could not then get out of the hotel, and if it had not been for my friend’s help, I would still be there.

I accept that old buildings may be listed. My father was an architect and I grew up knowing more about Part M of the building regs than most children, but there is no excuse in new-builds. Just today, Manchester Airport has announced that it is providing more Changing Places toilets, which are super-accessible toilets. These should be provided in all hotels and public buildings. That is because it is not just about hotel rooms; it is about everything else around the visitor experience.

I am really pleased that the noble Lord, Lord Holmes, is in his place because I would like to congratulate LOCOG, the 2012 organising committee, on the work it did on this issue. Some incredible work was done which started by looking at hotel rooms but then went on to consider the built environment. Because of the 2012 Games, some tremendous work has been done on the South Bank in terms of relaying cobbles and looking at dropped kerbs which never would have been done if it had not been for the Games.

I was sent an article on research undertaken back in July 2014 by the University of Surrey, which had been commissioned by the European Commission. It found that the European tourism sector is missing out on up to €142 billion every year due to poor infrastructure, services and attitudes towards travellers with special access needs, which can be due either to age or disability. But in 2012, this group of people undertook 783 million trips, contributing €394 billion and providing 8.7 million jobs to the European economy. The UK was among the top three contributors, but if a real job was done, so much more money would be available. Disabled people go where there is accessibility. I very rarely go on holiday in Europe; I go to the United States, if I am able to, because I know that the access there is absolutely fantastic.

The European Commission identified seven recommendations, but for me the first three are the most important. First, accessibility and design should be an integrated feature of a destination’s long-term planning and investment programme. Secondly, the industry needs to improve its co-ordination efforts. Thirdly, all members of staff of a service provider need to acquire a solid knowledge base on accessibility. I have simply lost count of how many times cost has been given as a reason for not doing anything. The data show that the cost is not prohibitive and that, in virtually every case, it can be recouped by the new business that is found.

There are some really good examples. Glasgow, host of the Commonwealth Games last year, is doing a tremendous job on accessibility around the city. This year, it is hosting the International Paralympic Committee Swimming World Championships, and VisitScotland is linking hotels with taxis and restaurants, and showing real examples of good practice for long-term change. We need to tell people about this, because really good stuff is happening, but I do not think that enough is known about it. What are Her Majesty’s Government doing to highlight the work by VisitScotland but also to follow up on the recommendations of the European Union?