Los Angeles partner David Raizman, and associate Elena Min, authored an article for Lodging Hospitality on new Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) regulations, set to take effect in March 2012.
The article advises hotel owners and operators to be aware of these new regulations, which focus on the operation of the place of lodging, not its architecture.
Regulations relating to reservation system requirements require that guests seeking accessible guestrooms be allowed to make their reservations during the same hours and in the same manner as guests reserving rooms from the general inventory.
David and Elena commented on the "far-reaching changes" this will mean for most places of lodging. "The widespread practice of assigning guestrooms upon check-in and subject to availability is no longer lawful, at least for a disabled guest's reservation of accessible guestrooms," they noted. Accordingly, "reservations agents will need to be in a position to provide detailed information about the accessible features, or lack thereof, for each property's accessible guestrooms."
David and Elena advise that hotels should: "Get ready for March 15 with a careful analysis of how the new ADA regulations and the coming Internet regulations may impact your place of lodging."
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