Pt1. Worst “Wheelchair Accessible" Hotel Room of Horrors | Novotel 

Why don't you offer this to the head of Novotel? And, become a spokesman for disabled architecture!!

Good Lord, that sounds atrocious! Some people think accessible just means big enough for a chair/walker when so much more goes into that but this doesn’t even sound like there was room for a human to get around normally. Idk what goes through some peoples heads.

Sorry for your experience but I'm glad to hear the hotel listened. If they stopped advertising for a while it's possible they actually took your advice to heart and changed the room to actually accommodate. I feel like in this instance (since they listened) they had good intentions but no one thought of consulting actually disabled person while designing the area and then to test it :( Sadly as an able bodied person I often struggle to fully realise what can be hard for a disabled one. (And to be fair the official recommendations are often not the best either). I can only hope to do my best. (However I don't work anywhere where my choices would affect many people, so that's a plus. I just want my personal space to be accessible so if my family or friends ever become disabled, or I meet a new friend, they are never uncomfortable in my place. Although right now they would be, bc I'm renting and the entryway and bathroom is claustrophobic even for me... :()

Manchester in which state?😊

@@country_21 in England

@@country_21 I’m concerned on what you’re gonna do. 😅

I doubt the peephole was even special to this room, it's very common for regular hotel rooms to have the two

That's exactly it lol

that pretty much sums up sydney as a whole you should see the shitty pot holes we have looking more like America eveyday 😪😭

@@jaimiedm that's what three years in a row of la Nina will do.

@@lexwithbub the weather can only exacerbate exsisting damage. Its more like bad freight rail, general car dependency and a lack of infrastructure spending did them in then rain opened it all up.

God that sounds terrible

@@VelvetWxtch yep 😭

Now that's 😶

As someone who lives in Malta I'm not surprised 😬😔

Yanno... I was not suprised by this sadly :( - also a person who lives in Malta

that's just scary!

kinda hope that got him in trouble ngl

I'll let you in on another secret. That's the case in a lot of the world and businesses only convert rooms because governments have told them to, not because they wish to be accessible. Disabled people are an afterthought to meet compliance in their eyes.

@@FrostedGalaxies I can only speak to conditions in Australia as I am not medically approved to fly. Unfortunately, I am not in the least bit surprised that the same things are going on in other countries.

Pretty sure "misnomer" does not mean what you think it means. Ironically, you're using a misnomer to designate it.

@@oenrn that really doesn't matter, we all understood the point and it's a very common mistake people make. Misconception would be correct but really, colloquially, misnomer is commonly used to mean the same thing even though it technically doesn't.

@@oenrn Speech to text doesn't always comprehend those of us with impaired speech function due to neurological impediments. Perhaps the next time you feel the desperate need to correct another, you might pause for half a moment and think about whether or not their particular disability might have a functional component leading to a (less than perfect) computer programme being at fault. We can't all be prize-winning English professors with a superiority complex like yourself.

So true! My uni's building is technically accessible... But someone design an auditory that cuts the building in half... You can get anywhere in the build by elevator (or this wheelchair lift that you have to use for 4 steps in the front - most people that I know just "power through" or their career over caries them, bc the loft is soooo slow)... Except 4 rooms. It's confusing for everyone, when you have your first class in one of those rooms (and those are big, so classes are scheduled there all the time) because they are technically on the same floor as the rest. But you get there... And there is room 201, 202, 203, 204, 205.... 209a, 210, and 211. To get to rooma 206, 207, 208 (and some unnumbered one that's a staffroom) you have to get back on first floor, go to the end of the hallway and then get back to 2nd floor. It's confusing. And completely not accessible. Worst thing is, people that assign rooms have no idea who is disabled and who isn't, tbf they probably don't even have a lost of ppl taking specific classes. So those rooms get assigned to all classes and it's on the disabled person to contact them and say "hey, I'm in this class, I'm disabled, you have to change the room". Not only it creates chaos (bc rooms change frequently in the beginning of the term) but before the disabled person is first in this situation - they have no idea! There is no information about those rooms not being accessible, many people don't know there they are (even staff sometimes) and then they miss first class usually. Or their friends have great idea of carrying them to the 2nd floor. I was in the class with one girl that was carried for almost entire term until the teacher saw it and informed them how to deal with the issue of the class. She had no idea she can request a change of rooms! Now when I think about it my heart skipps. Not only she was dependent on her friends in getting to class... But what if they falled? One person falling is bad enough, but one person falling while carrying another? They could injure themselves so badly :( Sorry for the rant. I'm just annoyed when I think about it. Because a lot of things are hard to imagine for a non disabled person until it's showed to us. But this? This is the most logical thing to do - mark rooms as unaccessible, inform everyone and tell them what are the steps to change room. Make sure they are informed and the rooms are changed quickly. Or better yet - make sure that all rooms are accessible for wheelchairs. Another "fun" experience I had in this building was when I helped my disabled teacher at the beginning of term. She has a lot of stuff to take care, so me and my friend carried it for her while she was switching offices. Sure, they made sure to move her furniture and most of the stuff over. But no one thought that a person walking with clutches can't bed over to unlock doors with a lock that's almost on the floor (the door had 3 locks for some reason!). And that if you move furniture for a disable person maybe you should arrange it in a way that they can move around it. I spent extra 10min with my friend moving furniture so our teacher can access her desk, window, bookcase and everything. Why people can't think for a moment? I get mistakes, especially when you use some recommendations, or just misalign something. But I don't get things that are just common sense (like lift access or not blocking paths). Again sorry for the rant. And sorry that we don't do enough to make world accessible to everyone.

I mean, can you not see the issue with things being at sitting height for someone who doesn't get around in a seated position all day, say because they're not in a wheelchair? If not, I'll give you a hint: It's the same issue the person using the wheelchair has with things being at a standard height.

@@leona5123 Let’s face it: businesses will never act altruistically. Things won’t change until there is incentive or government oversight. There needs to be financial benefit to creating accessible rooms. Most of the time our accessible rooms sit empty and not generating revenue (thank goodness for pooled profits).

Would having as many things as possible being adjustable help? For example any tables, hanging rails, etc could placed higher or lower, depending on who has booked the room? I know that most businesses probably won't do it without an incentive, but maybe some will?

​@@lisahenry20 i would think so, having surfaces that are adjustable the way those standing desks are would probably make a big difference in many cases

@@RosenrotRtLiebchen87 the problem would be with things that probably can't be adjusted, like sinks. The hotels would probably have to put in multiple sinks at different heights. I suppose then, the hotel could advertise the room as a wheelchair or family room. If the room is bigger to allow easy wheelchair maneuverability, then it may also have room for a child's bed, and the lower sink used as a kiddie sink.

have yall ever thought the fact that IT WASNT MADE FOR DISABLED PEOPLE

@@Yourfather23790 it’s marketed as an accessible room, this room is literally MADE FOR DISABLED PEOPLE!!! it is supposed to work for them. this isn’t someone complaining about a regular room not working for them, they’re complaining a room that SHOULD work for them NOT WORKING.

@@Yourfather23790 Well yes, but with the knowledge we have now, would it not make sense to try and make places more accessible to people with disabilities? Especially since we CAN do that in many cases and have the technology available to do so.

There's also just the difficulty of the fact that what works for one wheelchair user may not be what works for another.

@@kr4784 Yes, but it isn't the architect's fault? Why blame a group of people that have nothing to do with the problem.

Sorry to hear of your mishap and broken leg. That is dreadful.

WestGate in Gatlinburg was my first job… bell service. They are a shit company anyway trust me. They defiantly don’t care about accessible rooms. Most of the rooms where I worked were in these cabin look alike things and had three flights of stairs. No lift and the designated the bottom rooms as accessible. The issue is a lot of the bottom row rooms had steps down to them and when people would complain they wouldn’t do anything about it even though they had plenty of accessible rooms at the top of the mountain where there’s a building that looks like a motel up there and has elevators but those rooms costs more and they would be empty but still wouldn’t put these people into them when they figured out they couldn’t get into their rooms.

*Especially not in the State of California (USA), which has stricter Sections of the applicable Codes to construction and outfit.* Ōsaki Sensei, architect for the Plant of OMS Japanese Christian, didn't anticipate roll-in showers being an accessibility requirement (Welfare and Institutions was amended 15 years post hoc).

I was chair-bound in a dang skilled nursing facility that you couldn't get your chair into the shower area! God forbid you fall, I pulled the alert cord once, and gave up after three hours of no one coming.

Disabled isn't a bad word, I know handicap is used a lot in America, but in the UK its a very strange way to discribe a disabled person or facility. A handicap is putting you a few points a head to make a deficit fair. A person is not a handicap or handicapped, they are disabled.

@@ChiefHerzensCoach I do understand, I speak 3 languages and am trying to learn a forth. I wouldn't expect non native speakers to get the right words. But it's surely not a bad thing to correct in a kind way. I would hate to offend people in a different language, which I have done, so I understand.

@@alicerosetrevormusic i agree, I'm american and it's largely the abled people using these terms, the worst is "handy-capable" ugh

i went to one in bruges, belgium and it seemed pretty accesible! maybe it was the regional rooms

Its so high because of children I know it sucks I think they should make the height adjustable

Pretty much, yes. There's this general perception that people on wheelchairs aren't capable of doing anything independently and so will always travel with their "carer". Which is why we have BS like this - the room is "wheelchair accessible", in the sense that a wheelchair can fit in the room, but it is not "independent wheelchair user accessible".

The problem is these rooms are marked as accessible- meaning the room SHOULD be designed for someone in a wheelchair to access everything.

They do take up more room, and can cost more. The doors need to be custom, and they often need automatic doors. There’s 1000 other little things that add up quickly. Hope this helps :)

Absolutely lol thank you