when making a reservation it is always best to speak with the manager and ask what the handicap room actually entails. I'm sure you are not surprised that our idea of accessibility and the general public are completely different. With your experience I would write a letter to the president of the company being specific as you have been in this note about your experience. I would also send a copy of the letter to your local newspaper addressing the issue of accessibility.
_____ From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Monday, February 05, 2007 8:56 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [QUAD-L] Who Do I Complain To? I want to know who do I file a complaint with! I feel as though I have been discriminated against because of my disability. Last weekend, my husband and I made reservations to stay at a luxury hotel in our metropolitan area. I have a full sized van in which to transport my motorized wheelchair. Upon pulling up to the front entrance of the hotel, the valet did not offer to help my husband get any of our things out of the van while he took me out of the van. Once my husband had all of our things out of the van, my husband handed the keys to the parking valet. The valet told my husband that he would have to park the van someplace down the street because he wasn't sure if it would fit in the parking structure. My husband told him he wasn't going to park anywhere down the street. He was the valet and if anyone was going to park down the street, it would be him! He just told him to pull the van in front of the hotel. Once inside, we got our room key in went up to the room. Once inside the room, we were dumbfounded. The room had one double bed, with nightstands on both sides, a small writing desk and a very small TV console. This took up the entire space in the bed area, not even a chair! The bathroom shower had a door on it. It was enclosed in glass and very small. There was a shower bench in the shower but not enough room to transfer on to it. The face bowl had regular faucet handles that had to be twists to turn on the water. The grab bar next to the toilet was coming out of the wall. If someone had grabbed on to it, they would have fallen onto the floor. The room was so small, it just barely had enough room to turn in a circle and my wheelchair. I could not get my wheelchair in between the bed and the wall on either side of the bed. My husband called down to the front desk to explain our dilemma. Their solution was to take one night stand out of the room. We explain to them that this would not solve our problem, as the nightstand was the same width as the distance between the bed and the wall. They were not willing to offer any other accommodations and told us that this room met the requirements. I became so frustrated, we gathered our things and left the hotel. We checked into a brand-new hotel, a few blocks up the street (Hilton). My husband left me in the van while he went in to check the room. When he came back out to get me out of the van, he had already register for the room. The hotel staff was very accommodating and helpful. Upon entering the room, I could not believe the great difference between this room and the other hotels room. There were two double beds, a nightstand, floor lamp, big chair, writing desk, large TV console; a small area which held a microwave, coffee station and a small refrigerator. There was so much room, I could do wheelies in my wheelchair (if I knew how). The bathroom was huge. The shower had a shower curtain which made it easy for transfer to the shower bench. The face bowl had a one handle faucet which would make it easier for someone with limited mobility to operate, and all the grab bars were secure. This whole ordeal upset me because we had plans for the evening, and because we had to change hotels at the last minute. The luxury hotel that we originally made reservations for, advertise all of their rooms as being luxury suites. I have stayed at the hotel before, and the room we stayed in was indeed a luxury suite, but that closet they tried to pass off on us as a handicap room was just a crying shame. And did I mention that this hotel room cost nearly 3 times as much as the room at the Hilton? I've read the ADA requirements for hotel rooms, and that was not up to the requirements. There wasn't enough room between the bed in the wall, the shower was not accommodating, the faucets are not supposed to require any twist of the wrist, and the grab bar needed repair. I was claustrophobic in the room. Can someone please tell me how to file a complaint for discrimination of the disable. Thanks in advance, Naomi C-4 quad since July 2, 2005 Transverse Myelitis
