Excerpt from Corporate & Incentive Travel, February, 1995
"ADA: Year Four" by Donna J. Israel
Hoteliers on the whole are eager to comply with ADA regulations. It's not just the specter of government action or expensive lawsuits. Compliance is good for business. Estimates are that one in five Americans, some 43 million people, are in some way disabled. Notes Cheryl Duke, president of W. C. Duke Associates, which operates a program called Opening Doors, most of those 43 million are "neither orphans nor friendless."
And, while disabled consumers are necessarily cautious they become loyal customers when suppliers treat them with respect.
The Duke family (one of whom has muscular dystrophy and uses a wheelchair) serves as consultants to the lodging industry on issues relating to ADA and customer service. In 1989, two years before ADA was passed, the Dukes helped evaluate standards and develop training programs for the Embassy Suites hotel chain. They took a proactive approach focusing on everything from bed frames and roll-in-showers to the frustrations surrounding swinging doors and the indignities of too-high registration desks.
Embassy Suites' employees were given the chance to experience their properties from the point-of-view of the disabled guest. Blindfolded or in wheelchairs, they attempted to navigate corridors, maneuver around guest rooms and make their way through public areas. Experienced from that perspective, many features of their hotels began to function as obstacles.
According to Elise Mitchell, director of development marketing for Promus Hotels (Embassy Suites' parent company), all 107 Embassy Suites properties are ADA compliant. Indeed, she says no property, new or existing can join the chain unless it meets accessibility standards.
As a result, Embassy Suites has received droves of endorsements, favorable reviews and awards from entities within the disabled community. Reservations for its wheelchair-accessible rooms have risen an average of 24.6 percent per month since June 1991.