This does not inspire confidence!
Please note that the supporting safety arm for this toilet is lying on the floor with holes in the wall where it came from.
This was a two week old hotel. It had hardly been used but this important safety feature had come off the wall. The reason is it was not properly bolted to the wall.
Another accident just waiting to happen, when will hotels learn?
Do you think this is an accessible toilet?
What do you think? Yes or No.
The answer is.....
No.
I could not turn my wheelchair in it. It is very difficult to use the shower because the shower is enclosed by a screen. I realise that is to control water but a shower curtain is more accessible. To use it I had to leave the door open and I hurt my one and only leg trying to have a shower. I should add the first room I was shown I could not even get into the bedroom. The porter told me this always happened because receptionists never came up and looked at the rooms!
However, the really interesting thing is that when I complained to the management (for the fifth year in a row) at the Hilton Metropole at the NEC in Birmingham a silent fire alarm went off and security people knocked at my door. They wanted to take me to a refuge area. Now I knew nothing about this procedure and the manager that I was talking to at the time, in my room, was the hotel fire officer and he did not understand why I did not know about the procedure. It turns out I should have been given the Accessibility details when I checked in. This policy had been in operatioin for nearly 3 years. This was the fifth year in a row that I had used this hotel. The previous four years I complained to reception and obviously they did nothing. For the last three years I received nothing when I checked in and I suspect nor did most people with disabilities staying at this hotel.
The Hotel Healtrh and Safety Manager thought the procedure was in place but it fell down at Reception. There are three learning points from this. The first is checking that your rooms are really accesible and when you create a policy make sure it is communicated properly to people with disabilities when they arrive. And lastly make sure receptionists know what an accessible room looks like and the facilities it has. At another hotel in Slough I was told I had a wet room, I didn't, I had a low bath. Absolutely useless for a wheelchair user.