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

Overall Can do customer service attitude Rooms of equal level of comfort Roll in shower Clear circulation space Continuous accessible path Non-slip bathroom floor Handheld shower head Accessible parking In room temperature control Luggage assistance Cognitive Can do customer service attitude Continuous accessible path Non-slip bathroom floor Clear circulation space Rooms of equal level of comfort Roll in shower Low pile carpet Grab rails in bathroom Accessible parking Handheld shower head Fatigue Non-slip bathroom floor Can do customer service attitude Grab rails in bathroom Continuous accessible path Roll in shower Accessible parking Emergency phone in lift Well lit public areas Luggage assistance Rooms of equal level of comfort Other mobilkity aids Non-slip bathroom floor Can do customer service attitude Continuous accessible path Rooms of equal level of comfort Grab rails in bathroom Roll in shower Clear circulation space Accessible parking Luggage assistance Handheld shower head 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 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.

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…

2009 06 14 Ttra Accomm Class 3 B

More Related Content

Similar to 2009 06 14 Ttra Accomm Class 3 B (20)

More from Simon Darcy (6)

2009 06 14 Ttra Accomm Class 3 B