Man's 'frustration' at hotel accessibility issues

Antony Chuter said he initially struggled to access the Ibis Styles in York due to the front entrance wheelchair lift being out of order

A wheelchair user has said he was left "frustrated" by accessibility issues at a hotel in York, which included a broken lift for people with disabilities and a lack of power-assisted doors.

Antony Chuter said his employer had booked him into York's Ibis Styles hotel specifically for its disabled access, but it was a challenge to even get into the building.

"It just treats disabled people as second class citizens. It's that whole thing of, 'you don't matter'," he said.

Splendid Hospitality Group, which runs the hotel, said although the site's facilities met the relevant standards, it would be "working with an accessibility consultant, local authorities and the guest" to improve support.

Andrew Kendrick, hotels managing director at Splendid Hospitality, said: "While our accessibility measures fully meet all current regulatory standards and Accor brand standards, including a dedicated ramp at an alternative entrance, we can only apologise that we did not meet the guest's expectations on this occasion."

'Very challenging'

Mr Chuter said that when he discovered the hotel's front entrance wheelchair lift was out of order, he had waved to get a staff member's attention, who had directed him to the site's ramp entrance.

However, he explained that as a user of an electric wheelchair he had found the pavement to the car park, where the accessible entrance was located, was hard to navigate as it was uneven and poorly lit.

"Electric wheelchairs tend to want to veer off down the slope if you're driving along them sideways, so it's very challenging to go along a slope like that," he said.

Mr Chuter said that once he had reached the back door, he then had to press an intercom and manually open an internal set of doors, which he said had proved "really tricky".

"It's the fact that if the front door was broken and locked shut, would they expect all the customers to go round the back?" he asked

"Absolutely not - they'd get the front door fixed right away.

"But for a disabled person, they lose access at the front and the company is not interested at all in getting it fixed with any urgency."

Mr Chuter said that upon checking into the hotel, staff informed him the lift had been broken "for months".

'Determined to learn'

While acknowledging that his room had "everything he needed", and that staff were helpful, Mr Chuter said the lack of power-assisted doors throughout the hotel also caused him concern.

"It's awkward having to ask all the time. As a disabled person, I just want to do stuff how everyone else does it," he said.

"I don't particularly want to ask, or have people offer to help. I like the facility of doing it myself.

"Pressing a button to open a door is absolutely empowering to me, as is using a lift."

He added that he believed that the issues he had faced at the hotel in York revealed a wider problem of accessibility equipment not being maintained, which he said left many disabled people feeling like "second class citizens".

Mr Chuter said that after his stay, he had left a review highlighting what he felt were the accessibility shortcomings, and while the hotel did reply he did not feel the response was fully adequate.

A spokesperson for Splendid Hospitality Group told the BBC the organisation was "determined to learn and evolve from all feedback".

"To ensure meaningful improvement, we are working with an accessibility consultant, local authorities and the guest, once contact has been made, to understand how we can better support them and others in future and, where required, exceed current regulations," they added.

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