A first in the Netherlands: a hotel pays accessibility damages
By Andrew Freeway (Andrew_Freeway@yahoo.com)
Pulitzer Hotel pays woman in wheelchair damages for inaccessibility of the hotel
The 5 star Amsterdam Pulitzer hotel has paid E1200 damages to a disabled woman because she could not enter her hotel room, the hotel restaurant and the hotel bar. This is the first time in The Netherlands that a disabled person has received compensation for the inaccessibility of a hotel. Also the organization the woman was working for received a compensation of E 4800.
An official advisory council to the Dutch government, the organization known as RMO (www.adviesorgaan-rmo.nl), wanted to have their annual meeting at the Pulitzer (www.sheraton.com). All members of the council as well as the staff were going to stay 2 days and a night at the beautiful hotel on one of the Amsterdam canals, the Prinsengracht. Because the RMO's vice-chair woman, Ms Yolan Koster-Dreese, uses an electric wheelchair, the hotel was contacted about its accessibility.
Ok, only one small problem...
"The hotel told the RMO's secretariat that only the door to the bathroom might be too narrow and give some problems", says Ms Koster. "But I could use an accessible bathroom across the corridor. And since it was only for 1 night and since I did not want to spoil the opportunity to have our gathering in the center of Amsterdam in one of the most interesting hotels, I agreed".
Only to find out that she could not reach the function room without the help of staff and other guests. And yes there was an accessible bathroom - in the lobby and not adjacent to the function rooms. The restaurant could not be reached due to some steps. And a high threshold obstructed the offered alternative route via the street.
"I never saw the inside of the room, because the doorpost was too narrow" she says. "And when I asked for a room with a wider door, I was told that there was no such thing at the Pulitzer. Thereupon the staff left me to fend for myself...their attitude was it was not their problem. I felt very angry, sad and let down."
Ms Koster subsequently decided to leave the hotel, though the meeting was carrying on that evening and the next morning. She wanted to inform her colleagues about her decision. They were having a drink in the hotel bar. But since the bar was inaccessible she could not reach them.
Ironically, accessibility topics were at the heart of the meeting
The RMO - who happened to be in the middle of a project on Community Care and the accessibility of the Dutch society in general, which will be published at the end of this year - called in a lawyer. The Pulitzer settled the matter by paying a compensation of E 4800 to the RMO, the official customer of the hotel, because they were incorrectly informed about the accessibility of the hotel and therefore hindered in their planned function. At the urgent request of the lawyer also Ms Koster received E 1200 as a compensation for the immaterial damages sustained.
The Pulitzer Hotel is very unhappy with the publicity this compensation is getting, but acknowledges paying it to both parties. "This is all a misunderstanding. We thought that Ms Koster was using a normal wheelchair. But instead she came with a scoot mobile. And they do not fit through our doors. The hotel is composed of a number of old canal houses. Such a hotel is not so very suitable for disabled people," says a spokesman for the Pulitzer. According to the hotel the "not very suitable" sign on the Pulitzer's website is been changed into "not suitable for wheelchairs". But that is also the only adjustment the Pulitzer hotel will take.
New Dutch Anti-Discrimination Law
The Dutch Council of the Disabled (www.cg-raad.nl) appreciates the fact that Ms Koster came forward with her story. "Sadly enough it is very common in the Netherlands that people using a wheelchair cannot enter a hotel, train or bus", says Wim van Minnen, the general director of the Dutch Council. "And it is bullocks if the hotel says that the problem lies in the fact that Ms Koster was using a scoot mobile in stead of a wheelchair. First of all she was using an electric wheelchair and secondly for the width of the chair it had no consequences because the width sizes of the wheelchair or a scoot mobile are the same. I've got a bellyful of hotel management that does not want to make hotels more accessible. It only shows the necessity of complaining about these kinds of events by disabled people, if necessary with the help of a lawyer. The Dutch Parliament accepted an anti-discrimination law last July; this law will give disabled people a much stronger position. We call upon all Dutch disabled people to become aware of this law and their rights and use them!"
Ms Koster also filed a complaint with the American mother company of the Sheraton Amsterdam Pulitzer Hotel, the Starwood group (www.starwood.com).
Andrew Freeway (source: Kees Wessels k.wessels@ad.nl)
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