The price of access
The minimum wage, equal opportunities, the Working Time Directive, the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) - an outsider could be forgiven for thinking that the hospitality industry is about to sink into a bog of legislation or tangle itself inextricably in red tape.
Of the legislative issues, the DDA has probably caused the most worry since coming into force in 1996. The act makes it illegal to treat disabled people less favourably due to their disability; since October 1999 operators have had to make "reasonable" adjustments to the way they provide their services; and from 2004 they must make "reasonable" physical adjustments to premises, too.
It's that last bit that has caused the real concern, sparking visions of vast expense, disruption and uncertain financial benefit.
Vibrating pillows
But, four years on, it is becoming clear that accommodating disabled people - and that does not mean just wheelchair users, who account for only 5% of the 8.5 million disabled people in the UK - makes business sense, too. At the four-star Copthorne Tara hotel in Kensington, London, general manager Des Kent and his team are celebrating double recognition after winning both the Holiday Care Millennium Award in October and the Tourism For All category at this month's England for Excellence Awards run by the English Tourism Council (ETC). It's easy to see how the hotel won: the 10 accessible rooms (first adapted 15 years ago, but recently updated) have interconnecting rooms, extra-wide doors, emergency flash lighting, and vibrating pillows that act as an alarm for the hearing-impaired. Six of the rooms have wheel-in showers and two have bath hoists.
Public areas have been designed with accessibility in mind: there is a low section at reception for wheelchair users, and staff are trained in dealing with disabled guests' needs.
While Kent cannot quantify the income from disabled guests, because he doesn't segregate that business, it's clearly worthwhile: "The adapted rooms are full Monday to Friday throughout the year. And yes, of course we make money from them," he says.
The Copthorne Tara is a leading light, but it's not alone. All Accor hotels are inspected for accessibility by local tourist boards, says marketing director Roger Smith, and the group is incorporating the physical changes required by 2004 in all refurbishments and new builds. Making those alterations as part of a bigger renovation project minimises disruption, and it makes commercial as well as legal sense to improve accessibility, says Smith.
"If you go after conference business, for example, you sometimes won't get it unless you're totally accessible," he adds.
Thistle made alterations as part of major improvements at its Mount Royal hotel at Marble Arch, London, and now has 10 adapted rooms and special features in public areas such as a deaf-alert system, Braille menus and a low-level reception desk. "There was no specific disruption, and the cost was included in the overall refurbishment spend," says chief operating officer Stuart Burnett.
Millennium & Copthorne, Thistle and Accor are just three of the 15 hotel groups represented in the Hoteliers' Forum, an initiative set up by the Disability Partnership, which promotes accessibility in hotels under its "IndividuALL" banner.
The ETC puts the annual value of disabled and third-age business to the hospitality industry Europe-wide at about £20b. In England alone, it claims, there are 2.8 million disabled people who would take a holiday with family or friends if facilities met their needs; while Continental Europe offers a staggering 17 million potential disabled holiday-makers. And, as the population ages and the likelihood of disability increases - 80% of 80-year-olds have some impairment, says the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) - the market can only grow.
But not all holiday-makers want a luxury hotel. Lin Berwick, who has cerebral palsy and is totally blind, became so frustrated with trying to go on holiday that she set up the Lin Berwick Trust and, after raising £300,000, opened Berwick Cottage in East Harling, Norfolk, in July 1997. The self-catering cottage has everything a profoundly disabled person and their carer could need, and it's tapped into a keen market.
"We're full virtually all summer and we've just taken our first Christmas booking," says Berwick.
In Cumbria, farmers Reg and Joan Almond recently converted a barn at their Irton House farm near Bassenthwaite into four units for disabled tourists. Again, the couple have built a loyal following for the accommodation, which they let for up to £600 per week.
These are the exceptions, of course, and the ETC is concerned that among small businesses there is little awareness of the DDA, and a belief that major building work is financially impossible. It is advocating tax breaks to enable small businesses to make the conversions required.
On the right tracks
David Sindall, head of practice development at the DRC, says the industry is on the right tracks but more is needed: "The view has been that disabled people are happy with limited access; but they will become more discerning. We want to work with the hospitality industry to ensure that the disabled have the same access to high-quality facilities as the able-bodied."
And it doesn't have to cost the earth. Maundy Todd, previously chief executive and now consultant to the Tourism For All consortium, which lobbies for accessible mainstream tourism, says that 90% of access issues can be sorted simply by changing procedures and that, in any case, the average adaptation costs no more than £50.
Low-cost alterations could include large-print menus, flexible seating in a restaurant, or clearer signage.
"All the act requires is to make changes that are reasonable for your business," says Todd. "It's not reasonable to expect a B&B to install lifts, but it might be reasonable for them to put in good lighting on the stairs or easy-to-use door handles. Complying with the DDA is not necessarily about great capital expenditure, but it is certainly about benefit."
