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Disabled Olympics fans face shortage of London hotel rooms
Ross Lydall24.08.09
London faces a shortage of hotel rooms to accommodate disabled spectators at the 2012 Olympics and Paralympics.
Boris Johnson is under pressure to uphold London's pledge to stage the "most inclusive Paralympics ever", when athletes such as swimmer Ellie Simmonds are expected to lead Team GB's rush for medals.
The Mayor has ordered an audit of the capital's 100,000 rooms to check that enough are wheelchair accessible. Developers say they are happy to work with him but point out that fully accessible rooms are more expensive to build, and are calling for subsidies.
The London Development Agency is spending £20.6million this year improving facilities for tourists and is seeking to convince hotels that it makes good business sense to increase their accessibility.
The LDA, carrying out the audit for the Mayor, said there are 1,100 wheelchair-accessible rooms. But the London 2012 organising committee refuses to disclose how many wheelchair-users it expects.
A London 2012 spokeswoman said 7.7million tickets would be sold for the Olympics and 1.5million for the Paralympics. There are around 11million disabled people in the UK, with between 550,000 and 770,000 using wheelchairs.
Transport for London has pledged to make one quarter of all 275 Tube stations accessible by next year.
Abigail Lock, head of campaigns for disability rights charity Scope, said: "Often, when we have large events, big organisations block book hotel rooms. I had a look at the Visit London website and a lot of the accessible rooms they have listed are the chain hotels. People who require these additional facilities may not be able to access them."
Deputy Mayor Richard Barnes said: "We inherited the Olympic Games, which had the strapline 'The most accessible Olympic Games ever', and we have to deliver."
Under disability law, one in 20 hotel rooms has to be accessible. A review of the Mayor's London Plan is likely to increase this, though a new minimum has not been finalised.
Brian Seaman, of the Tourism For All charity, said: "There are a lot of big hotels being built in and around the 2012 facilities, with 300 rooms, 400 rooms. Each of these is going to have the five per cent. We are going to have a considerable number of extra rooms." The LDA said it and Visit London were "liaising closely" with the hotel industry to ensure demand was met.
Reader views (3)
Having stayed in London twice in the last five months, I found two hotels with full wheelchair access, the Holiday Inn in Bloomsbury, which was reasonable but the restuarant was poor for access, and the Park Plaza at County Hall. this hotel had only recently opened so I would expect high standards and was not disappointed. both hotels provided free car parking. Having seen an interest in the 2012 Paralympics, I would doubt that there would be enough wheelchair accessible rooms, but in reality, what happens to these room after 2012? I hope London can be a truly inclusive games, but there are many other aspects of London that are a nightmare for wheelchair users - take a look at Covent Garden pavements, where are the dropped kerbs?
- Andy Zadora, Nottingham, UK
THe Mayor of London Boris Johnson should be under pressure to uphold London's pledge to stage the "most inclusive Paralympics ever". Boris needs to engadge with disabled people like Ken Livingstone did as he is not done so since being elected. The question of accessiblity has always been high on the agenda when asked when are LDA going to engagde with disability representatives, no responce has been made. Having visited many high profile hotels in London, many are told that they have fully accessible rooms with all the needs for example hoists, wet floors but colour contrasts are not that very good. I find it very strange why London 2012 refuses to disclose how many wheelchair-users it expects when they speak with wheelchair users. We all have heard about the 275 stations being accessible but it may be fine to start your journey but not to complete your destination, so then what?
- Ron Newman, Hackney, England
Perhaps I am niaive in assuming that by hosting the Olympics and the para-Olympics in London that hotels in the Capital will gain a period of hugely increased business from the tourists that visiting both sets of games. If this is the case and I am not simply imagining that hotels are literally being handed what will amount to millions of pounds worth of extra revenue then its frankly outrageous for the hotels to grumble about the cost of providing facilities for disabled visitors. Facilities for people with disabilities should surely not be considered a luxery for a city that won the Olympics partly on the grounds that it is a city of equalities. If these businesses don't have the foresight to see that by investing now to make these changes will gain them ten fold profits come 2012 then they don't deserve to be in business in the first place.
- Tom, London
