By Trenaya Reid, Workforce Development Manager
Are you a person who does a lot of traveling for work? When booking business travel, there are resources that you can utilize to ensure that your accessibility needs are met. This can be when booking airline travel and/or hotel travel. In addition, you can request accommodations once you arrive at the airport or your hotel.
When booking flights, you can always request ADA assistance ahead of time. This is to ensure that you have the accommodations you need for the day of travel. Some examples of accommodations include: assistance to and from the gate, requesting wheelchair transport, as well as requesting an aisle chair to get to and from the aircraft. In addition, each airline has a Disability Services Department that you can contact prior to flying, if you have any questions on how to check-in your mobility devices, or if you need to request a closer seat on the aircraft. If there are any questions or concerns that come up while you are at the airport, you can always request a Compliant Resolution Official (CRO). A CRO agent is the expert on any disability related issues for every airline. It is required that airlines have a CRO agent available during operating hours, either in-person or by phone.
On the day of travel, you can request wheelchair assistance and assistance with your luggage. If you are traveling with any medical devices, you can ask the front desk agent at the airport for a “Claim at Gate” tag. This is to ensure that your medical device is waiting for you at the bottom of the aircraft when you disembark.
Before booking your hotel stay, it is always a good rule of thumb to do research on the surrounding area you will be staying in. Specifically, if there is accessible public transportation, if there are accessible attractions and/or if there are restaurants nearby that are easy to get to. Doing this research will help you to decide which hotel or location may work best for you.
In addition, find out which amenities are available within the hotel. Is there an ample amount of ADA parking or valet parking services? In addition, does the hotel have any on-site restaurants? Does the hotel offer bell services, where they would be able to assist you to and from your room with your luggage and/or medical devices?
Once you have the location and hotel you would like to stay at, you can go to the hotel’s website to see the accessible room options that they have available. Some of the most common room types can include, ADA Accessible Room with a Roll-In Shower, ADA Accessible Room with an ADA tub and Hearing Accessible rooms. If you are not able to locate these types of rooms on the hotel’s website, you can also call the hotel’s customer service phone number to see room availability and to book.
When planning your business travel, having a discussion with your manager or supervisor is always a great option. This is to ensure that you have the support, guidance, and resources you need to book your ADA travel. In addition, utilizing websites that specialize in booking for ADA accessible hotel rooms, such as Wheel the World may make your trip easier. These experts can assist in reserving the airfare and room type that best fits your accessibility needs.
If you would like to participate in the Amputee Coalition’s airport security screening community feedback survey, please share your experiences here.
In partnership with Wheel the World, the Amputee Coalition will receive a donation with every travel booking made using the code ‘AMPUTEECOALITION.’ Also, enjoy $50 cashback on your booking!