New Guidance for larger hotels – PAS88 2008
( Last Updated: 06-05-2008 )
Guidance on accessibility of large hotel premises and hotel chains - PAS88:2008.
Launched on the 3rd of April 2008, this Publicly Available Specification (PAS) has been developed by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC), latterly the Equality and Human Rights Commission and VisitBritain in collaboration with The British Standards Institution (BSI).
A Mini Consumer Guide to PAS88 can be seen if you click here.
This PAS has been developed to assist hotels in meeting their obligations under the DDA. Users of this PAS will find BS 8300:2001 Design of buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people - Code of Practice a vital resource to be used in conjunction with this PAS.
BS 8300 gives recommendations for the design of new buildings and their approaches to meet the needs of disabled people. This PAS however aims to give additional guidance on the physical features and services provided by both new and existing hotels.
A statement from the Equality and Human Rights Commission includes the following information:
'Standardizing accessibility and services offered by large hotel premises and chains will have a great impact on disabled people's opportunities to stay at hotels across Britain. The Commission is keen that this guidance is used to improve good practice in all hotels, ensuring greater inclusion for disabled people and in increasing Britain's tourist numbers and the experience they have.
The recognition of good practice in hotels is a critical step in removing the barriers disabled people face in going about their daily lives.
Disabled people, their families, friends and colleagues can now be reassured that they can expect access to large chains comfortably, not have to plan minutia of detail in advance'.
Does this document apply to you?
This document is for the use of large hotels and hotel groups and chains. The discussion of reasonableness in the introduction makes it clear that it is the resources of the business as a whole, rather than a particular establishment that will determine the legal duties. As a result, we would recommend that hotel businesses which have several small hotels should still refer to this guide. This would apply equally to smaller chains of well-resourced hotels.
Inevitably there is no simple way of determining whether a hotel business is large or small in size or financial worth.
As a guide, large hotels will tend to have formal accommodation with full service, a more structured management system, a large team of staff, and a minimum of six bedrooms (but more likely to have more than 30 bedrooms) and usually additional facilities such as bars, restaurants, leisure or conference suites.
Likewise a hotel group/chain is suggested as being a chain of six or more hotels with central reservations (on or offline) and a clear overall brand identity, as well as or instead of individual hotel identities. If you are a smaller group or chain of hotels or a hotel with less than 30 bedrooms, you may still find parts of this guide will apply to you and/or offer best practice to you in making your business accessible to disabled customers.
This PAS provides hotels with guidance on how to make their facilities and services as accessible as possible. It is designed as an aspirational document which hotels work towards in order to improve and enhance their accessible features and services. This PAS aims to provide guidance on all areas of hotel premises and service.
Priced at £50, PAS88:2008 is available in a PDF format only from BSI - more details can be found if you click here.