2009 06 14 Ttra Accomm Class 3 B

Hotel Accessibility Criteria: Improving Accessible Accommodation Information Formats US Travel and Tourism Research Association Conference Honolulu Hilton 14 June 2009 Simon Darcy PhD University of Technology, Sydney Contact: [email_address]

This presentation will:
Overview the research;
Critique systems of accommodation information provision;
Detail the research design;
Discuss the findings;
Outline the template outcome.

Role of accommodation in travel for people with disabilities
Theoretical approaches to disability;
Dimensions of access;
Role of dimensions of access in accommodation options;
Accommodation as a key determinant of destination choice.

Disability & Dimensions of Access
Mobility
Hearing
Vision
Cognition
Other
Mental health, smoke free, chemical sensitivity, allergies, behavioural issues + others
Rationale for included dimensions based on BCA, SA & DDA complaint cases

Critique systems of accommodation information provision
Mainstream information provision;
Government tourism marketing authorities
Travel agents
Tourism operators
Rating systems;
Other approaches;
Experience of people with disabilities; &
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission.

Research questions: Which room criteria are “important” in making accessible accommodation choices? What information format best allows a person with a disability to make an informed accommodation choice for their access needs?

Objectives
Determine the key selection criteria for accessible rooms on which people with disabilities make informed decisions for their access considerations;
Provide information about accessible accommodations in the four formats to people with disabilities to determine whether the information meets their access considerations;
Ascertain which format was preferred;
Develop a template to assist accommodation managers’ better market and promote their accessible rooms.

Research Design
Stages
Access audits of the hotel rooms and accessible tourism information development;
Hotel Accessibility Scale;
Information appraisal and decision-making of the accessible tourism market ; &
Product testing and in-depth interviews of people with disabilities.
Analysis
Scale reliability, principal components analysis;
Descriptives, Chi-square, T-tests and ANOVA; &
Comparative analysis of the access audit information provided to the accessible tourism market - pre-visit determination and visit assessment.

Four Information Formats
AAA tourist accommodation guide information (ACROD, 1994; Australian Automobile Association, 2005; Australian Council for Rehabilitation of Disabled (ACROD) Ltd, 1999);
Textual presentation of AS1428 - (Australian Quadriplegic Association, 2002; Fodor's, 1996);
Textual and spatial presentation (Cameron, 2000; City of Melbourne, 2006); and
Digital photography or virtual digital video tour (Accor - Australia and the Pacific, 2006; Voyages Hotels and Resorts - Australia, 2006) and the One-Stop Shop for Accessible Tourism Europe (Buhalis, 2005; Buhalis, Michopoulou, Michailidis, & Ambrose, 2006).
See Darcy, S. (2007, 11-14 February). A methodology for assessing class three accessible accommodation information provision. Refereed paper presented at the CAUTHE Tourism - Past Achievements, Future Challenges, Manly - Sydney Australia. CD

Electronic snowballing Sample Organisations (50+)
Australian Federation of Disability Organisations
Physical Disability Council of Australia
Deafness Forum
Vision Australia
National Council of Intellectual Disability
Disability Sporting Organisations
Para Quad (NSW/VIC/QLD), Spinal Cord Injury Australia, Muscular Dystrophy Association, Northcott etc. etc.
Scope, Spastic Centre of NSW
Council of the Ageing
Carers Australia
State and Commonwealth ageing, disability and carers

Sample N=566

Sample

Sample
Gender: Female 58% Male 42%
Age: bell curve with a slight aged skew
University 48% or TAFE educated 19%
Full time/self employed 33% Part time 17% Pension/Retired 24%
Australian-born 80% with 8% affiliation to other cultural/ethnic groups
Lifestyle groups:
midlife singles
older working couples
young singles living at home
older non-working couples

Travel Patterns
Average number in group 3.9
Only person with a disability 68%
Average number in disability group 6.3
Sports groups
Disability advocacy groups
Service organisations and group homes
2-3 trips per year 33%
6+ trips per year 26%

Room Criteria Importance
55 Room criteria
5 point importance scale 1 very imp to 5 Not at all Imp
Sig p <.05
Dimensions of access – 47 items
Level of support needs – 38 items
Socio demographic – eg. Age 7, Gender 11, Emp 18, Ed 19
Individual needs
Travel party
Dimension + Level of support + demographic + ind need + travel party = accommodation choice

Manual
Roll in shower
Continuous accessible path
Can do customer service attitude
Clear circulation space
Handheld shower head
Rooms of equal level of comfort
Non-slip bathroom floor
Low pile carpet
Clear circulation in bathroom
Accessible parking
Blind/vision
Roll in shower
Luggage assistance
Grab rails in bathroom
Lever water taps
Evacuation orientation
Deaf/hearing
Teletext decoders
Phone with vol control and alert
In room temperature control
Evacuation orientation
Clear signage
Internet access
Non audibel door bell
Alarm system
Power
Roll in shower
Clear circulation in bathroom
Low pile carpet
Top 10 by Dimension

Overall
Roll in shower
Accessible parking
Luggage assistance
Cognitive
Roll in shower
Low pile carpet
Accessible parking
Fatigue
Roll in shower
Accessible parking
Emergency phone in lift
Well lit public areas
Luggage assistance
Other mobilkity aids
Roll in shower
Accessible parking
Luggage assistance
Top 10 by Dimension

Principal Component Analysis
Component 1: Core Mobility
Component 2: Hearing & Vision (Communication)
Component 3: Ambulant (Safety)
Component 4: Service & Security
Component 5: Amenity (comfort/recreation)
Component 6: Supplementary Mobility
Excellent internal consistency (Cronbach Alpha scores all above .7) as a whole and as individual components

Preferred Format Mean Std. Deviation Statistic Std. Error Statistic AAA preference 3.50 .046 .992 Text preference 2.76 .033 .707 Floorplan preference 2.17 .034 .735 Photo preference 1.57 .045 .974 Valid N (listwise)

Preferred Format

Preferred Format
Reinforces the inadequacy of ratings icons
Technical measurements abstract
Understanding ‘the space’ is important
Floor plans provide an understanding of the space
Photographs reinforce abstract concepts
Photographs only as good as the features shown
Rich textual description is important for people who are blind/vision impaired
Focus group reinforced that it was the room/bathroom that was essential to making a decision

Recognised limitation
Limited funding
Can be expanded with support
Response to the current inclusion of the Building Codes of Australia and the Australian Standards for access and mobility
Other dimensions of access
Mental health, smoke free, chemical sensitivity, allergies, behavioural issues + others

Summary
Informed decisions require detailed information
Information and, hence, the understanding of access varies for each individual
Dimension of access
Support needs
Travel party etc.
Not an exercise in certifying/rating
Information savvy consumer group
Trust has been compromised through past experience
Trust can be regained through a systematic approach

Template Outcome:
The document is divided into eight parts:
Part A Premises name and contact details.
Part B Transport and parking
Part C Main entry and foyer
Part D Signage, toilets, telephones, lifts et.
Part E Accessible room(s)
Part F Bathroom
Part G Respiratory and other sensitivities
Part H Other features
Subject to UTS & Easy Access Australia ©

For full papers see
Darcy, S. (2009). Accommodation Accessibility Criteria: Towards Improving Accessible Accommodation Information Formats. Paper presented at the "Catch the Wave: Tourism Research!" 40th US Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) Conference. from http://www.ttra.com/
Darcy, S. (2010). Inherent complexity: Disability, accessible tourism and accommodation information preferences. Tourism Management , Accepted & published online awaiting volume allocation.

Thank you Mahalo

Way/s forward…
http://www.nican.com.au
http://www.accessibility.com.au/
http://www.accessfinder.com.au
http://www.australiaforall.com.au/
AAA Tourism???
http://www.perth.wa.gov.au/WAAccess/vis13_waaccess.html
Australian Tourism Data Warehouse
Outcome from this research…

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2009 06 14 Ttra Accomm Class 3 B

by Simon Darcy

Accessibility

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2009 06 14 Ttra Accomm Class 3 B Presentation Transcript