Tag Archives: ADA

by | January 21, 2011 · 4:50 am

Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Hotels Are Considered "Public Accomodations" And Must Provide "Auxiliary Aids And Services" To Visually-Impaired, Deaf And "Hard Of Hearing Guests" In Conference Facilities

“…public accommodations must ensure that no individual with a disability may be “treated differently than other individuals because of the absence of auxiliary aids and services.”

  • Included as examples of “auxiliary aids and services” are closed caption, rear-window captioning and open captioning for individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.
  • With the advances in technology, it is argued that at least one form of captioning is now required in virtually all hotel rooms, meeting rooms, bars, restaurants, and other accommodations with televised services. 
  • Nearly all television sets built since 1993 with screens of 13 inches or more that are sold in the United States have closed captioning embedded in the television set. The closed captioning becomes visible when you use a special decoder, either as a separate box or built into the television set

If your hotel meeting and conference facilities appeal to a broad range of groups or organizations, which include disabled individuals (as nearly all do), are you providing auxiliary aids and services for visually impaired, deaf and hard of hearing guests? 

  • Have you implemented plans to protect yourself from this type of “new frontier” ADA litigation?
  • Have you had an “ADA audit” done by an expert team looking to protect your interests? 
  • Have you taken action to stay on top of the technology for hearing and sight impaired guests/conference attendees? 
  • Have you specifically investigated your hotel’s needs to provide auxiliary aids and services? 
  • Do you have written policies and procedures for providing auxiliary aids and services to guests/conference attendees? 
  • Do you have written policies and procedures for training staff on the need for and use of auxiliary aids and services for disabled guests/conference attendees? 
  • Do you have the necessary auxiliary aids and services on site? Are there aids and services available from sister properties if you run short? 
  • Do you have policies in place for testing auxiliary aids and services to be sure they are working and properly maintained? 
  • Do you have plans to investigate and purchase the latest in closed captioned technology?

    • For more:  http://hotellaw.jmbm.com/2011/01/hotel_ada_defense_conference_centers_and__group_hotels.html

    Comments Off on Hospitality Industry Legal Risks: Hotels Are Considered "Public Accomodations" And Must Provide "Auxiliary Aids And Services" To Visually-Impaired, Deaf And "Hard Of Hearing Guests" In Conference Facilities

    Filed under Guest Issues, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Training

    Tagged as , , , , , ,

    by | November 19, 2010 · 1:05 pm

    Hotel Industry Legal Issues: Dept. Of Justice (DOJ), In Settlement Of A Complaint Against Hilton Hotels Over The “Americans With Disabilities Act” (ADA), Now Mandates That Hotel Owners Provide Required Number And Categories Of Accessible Rooms And Ability To Reserve Those Rooms Online

    “…the settlement represents the first time the Department of Justice has required a franchisor to require all franchised or managed hotels that enter into a new franchise or management agreement, experience a change in ownership, or renew or extend a franchise agreement, to conduct a survey of its facilities and to certify that the hotel complies with the ADA…”

    “..It is also the first time that an agreement under the ADA has specifically detailed how a hotel reservations system should be made accessible. The agreement also represents the first time that a hotel chain has been required to make its online reservations system accessible and to provide on its website current data about accessible features in guest rooms throughout the chain…”

    Allegations in the department’s complaint include:

    • Failure to provide the required number of accessible rooms
    • Failure to disperse accessible rooms among the various categories of available accommodations
    • Failure to provide individuals with disabilities the ability to reserve accessible rooms through Hilton’s central reservations system on-line or by telephone
    • Failure to provide individuals with disabilities with the accessible sleeping accommodations that they reserved.

    For more on the Justice Dept. Complaint and Findings:  http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2010/November/10-crt-1268.html

    2 Comments

    Filed under Guest Issues, Legislation, Liability, Management And Ownership, Risk Management, Technology

    Tagged as , , , , , ,