By Denis Sheehan MIH, Publisher, H&C News: Hotel delivers accessibility transformation for disabled visitors.
Marsham Court Hotel in Bournemouth has introduced a new smart tool giving disabled visitors the most dignified, discreet and personal method to share their requirements and access needs prior to their arrival.
The historic hotel on Bournemouth’s Eastcliff is introducing a disability-aware customer service tool, designed to make face-to-face transactions between disabled people and hotel teams as informed, anxiety-free and friendly as possible.
This allows users to set up a personal accessibility profile which is shared with the hotel, along with information about the visitor’s needs and reasons for visiting. The team gets notifications and also in the moment training. That then allows members of the hotel team to ensure they have everything in place to support the guest in the best way possible when they arrive and throughout their stay.
Rosie Radwell, whose family have owned the Marsham Court Hotel for over 30 years, said: “A huge amount of work goes into preparing to welcome every visitor to the hotel, but we are especially mindful that our disabled guests will have additional requirements. We want to make sure we meet their needs in a discreet and efficient way, so we can ensure that every guest’s arrival and stay is seamless and relaxing as it should be.
“We also understand how frustrating it can be to have to ring ahead and ask the same questions and put in place arrangements wherever you go – this app makes that process much easier, and still allows us to understand our disabled guests’ individual needs and assist them in the way they prefer. They can communicate everything they need to at the click of a button, and then relax, knowing that our team will take care of it all.”
This is the latest in a series of steps taken at Marsham Court Hotel over the past two years to make it much more accessible – a new direction inspired and motivated by the owning family’s first-hand experience of supporting a loved one with limited mobility.
Marsham Court has already made more than £170,000 of improvements including a wheelchair lift, levelling access across the ground floor, creating accessible rooms, installing a ‘Changing Places’ toilet and shower, adding a sensory room, and investing in a pool hoist – and is continuing to invest more.
