Excerpts from Hotel/Motel Security and Safety Management
September, 1996
"Training Employees to Serve Disabled Guests Pays off for Embassy Suites"
A program of "Disability Etiquette" offered by a Virginia company has helped Embassy Suites Hotels, Inc. tap a potentially lucrative market of disabled guests while giving employees training in how to serve people with disabilities. Embassy Suites credits the Opening Doors program developed by W.C. Duke Associates, Inc., Woodford, VA, with helping them to more than double the rooms sold to guest with wheelchairs in three years.
"If you do have a disability, we're prepared to give you the best experience possible in a hotel...which is the same we offer to every guest," says David Motta, Director of market planning and analysis for Promus Hotels Corp., Memphis, TN, the parent company of Embassy Suites. Motta himself is disabled and he has noticed a marked improvement in services for the disabled at Embassy Suites. The success of the program at Embassy Suites has prompted Promus to implement the mandatory training at its other properties, Hampton Inns and Homewood Suites.
The training began in 1992 and, from 1991 to 1994, the number of wheelchair room nights sold has increased from 55,000 to 126,000, translating to an increase in gross receipts of more than $13 million, according to the company's estimates. Don Elkington, manager of leadership development for Promus says that most wheelchair rooms--which average from two to eight, depending on hotel size--are booked each night, which was not happening before '92.
Everyone
from managers to guest services and security is given the specialized training,
according to Elkington and Motta. In many cases, regional training programs
are held for representatives of several Embassy Suites hotels, who then take
the course back to their respective hotels for individual staff training.
Left: An Embassy Suites executive gets additional ideas from Paul Duke implementing the Opening Doors® program. Looking on is the director of the local Center for Independent Living, who came to attend the training seminar.
The program has been well - received by employees, reports Elkington. "They appreciate having knowledge they haven't had. A lot of employees just have a natural fear of dealing with people with disabilities. This program removes a lot of that fear. It has been highly successful."
"Opening Doors" is built around the personal experiences of the Duke family: Cheryl Duke, president of W.C. Dukes Associates; her husband, Bill, who is hearing impaired; and her son, Paul, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair. Their experiences and those of other people with disabilities in hotel, restaurants, and other public places spurred the development of the program.
Duke believes that Embassy Suites is enjoying a financial success from the program because of a strong word-of-mouth in the vast but tightly knit community of people with disabilities and their families. "It's a huge market out there, but you have to not only know how to make your place accessible ... you have to know how to serve them."