Page 26 - Northeast In-Sites - The Newsletter of the Northeast Campground Association, Inc. - Number 131, May 2022
P. 26
Does Your Business Meet Physical and Online ADA Compliance?
Salem, Utah | March 2022
ResNexus.com/news
Every year sets a new record for the most ADA Title III lawsuits, claiming discrimination on the basis of
disability. Learn what you can do for your business to increase accessibility for disabled guests and avoid
potential litigation.
As a hospitality business, it’s important to make sure all your guests feel welcome and comfortable.
“Hospitality” is the name of the game, after all. But each guest has unique needs, and it can be difficult
to remember when those needs differ from your own. For example, some people rely on screen reading
technology to navigate websites, and if a website isn’t optimized for that, then these people will have a
hard time interacting with it. People in wheelchairs can’t access stairs-only places. Some people rely on
service dogs for medical or psychological needs.
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects needs like these, and you can be held liable for failing
to accommodate people with disabilities. This is a great help to people who depend on these accommo-
dations to live their lives, but drive-by litigations do also happen from time to time.
One recent tactic of litigious people is to target hospitality businesses by claiming that they don’t meet
ADA compliance standards through online travel agencies, even if your own website is fully compliant.
But you can also be at risk of litigation if your property isn’t wheelchair accessible, among other things.
Physical ADA
The first category of ADA compliance is physical, and includes things like ramp wheelchair access, grab
bars in bathrooms, and service animal accommodation.
In general, if it is reasonable to make renovations to your property to make it more accessible, then it’s a
good idea to do so. Now, do you rent out a historic site to guests with hand-carved wooden doorframes?
You probably won’t have to widen those doorframes for wheelchair access if doing so would change the
nature of your property. A great resource to check physical ADA guidelines can be found at adachecklist.
org.
Online ADA
The second category of ADA compliance is online. You can improve your online accessibility by optimiz-
ing your color contrast so visually disabled people can read it, and by keeping your text fields properly
labeled and organized to work with screen readers. In addition, hospitality properties and other places of
lodging must follow 5 items found 28 C.F.R. §36.302(e) *The following added by Northeast In-Sites Editor:
(1) Reservations made by places of lodging. A public accommodation that owns, leases (or leases to), or operates
a place of lodging shall, with respect to reservations made by any means, including by telephone, in-person, or
through a third party -
(i) Modify its policies, practices, or procedures to ensure that individuals with disabilities can make reservations for
accessible guest rooms during the same hours and in the same manner as individuals who do not need accessible
rooms;
(ii) Identify and describe accessible features in the hotels and guest rooms offered through its reservations service
in enough detail to reasonably permit individuals with disabilities to assess independently whether a given hotel or
guest room meets his or her accessibility needs;
(iii) Ensure that accessible guest rooms are held for use by individuals with disabilities until all other guest rooms
of that type have been rented and the accessible room requested is the only remaining room of that type;
26 Northeast In-Sites ~ May 2022 ~ CampNCA.org
