Yep, even a travel professional can make a mistake, and this was truly my mistake.
On our last cruise vacation, we arrived in Miami this night before the cruise departed. So far, so good. It was an early evening flight, so we didn’t arrive at the hotel until almost 9 p.m. and this was the first mistake. Upon arrival, the clerk informed us our room had been upgraded. My response was “I need an accessible room, is the upgraded room accessible.” No problem. The second try “does the bathroom has bars in the shower, a raised toilet and bars” and upon reflection, the desk clerk said, “yes, there are bars in the shower” – or at least that’s what I heard.
My biggest mistake was walking into the room and not checking the bathroom immediately. So, I didn’t see that the toilet was not a raised toilet, there were no bars close to the toilet and the shower was a walk-in and had one small bar far from the shower door. Not good. Because it was now 10 p.m., I thought I could make due and decided not to go all the way back to the desk or call the front desk and change to an accessible room (if the hotel still had an accessible room left).
So, what can you learn from my mistakes:
- Take a flight earlier in the day so it is not 9 p.m. while trying to deal with a hotel desk clerk and
- Always, always, always check the bathroom in the room to see if it fits your mobility limited needs
- While checking out the bathroom, check on the height of the bed. For some reason, hotels are making the bedding higher and higher and that can make getting into the bed very difficult.
- Don’t be afraid to insist on the room you need to make your stay in the hotel safe and comfortable.
About Kate DeLosso
Kate DeLosso is a travel professional with over 20 years of experience traveling the world on land and by ship, visiting over 30 countries with an emphasis on travel in Asia. Kate DeLosso Travel is a home based travel agency that helps individual travelers and groups explore the US, Europe and Asia. A number of years ago, Kate had stroke and had to re-learn how to walk, type and drive a car. With a mobility handicap, she became aware that travel was “different” for people with physical challenges. One of her missions has become to share the knowledge accumulated after 20 years of traveling the world as a mobility challenged person. Kate DeLosso is a Certified Travel Counselor, Special Interest Travel Specialist and an Accredited Cruise Counselor and founder of Kate DeLosso Travel. She has lived and worked in Chadds Ford since 1999.
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