Difficulties When Staying at Hotels

Staying at a hotel can more often than not be a treat but for a blind person there are some challenges to overcome if they are on their own.

Here is a list to start with if I am on my own.

 

I need to be able to find my way to and from my room.  Very important for me if I hope to survive.  So, if I am on my own, I ask the front desk to help me with this.  I ask them to show me the way at least once.

The key card; I need to know how to use it to open the door of my room.  I often take along a small roll of tape with me and use it to mark the side that does not have to be used to open the door.  Usually, there is no problem to determine if the door has been opened with the key card because I can hear the click.

 

Navigating my way around the breakfast area.  This is probably one of the easier of the challenges to overcome.  I normally ask the front desk staff for help and they are always very quick to oblige and the staff at the breakfast dining area are very quick to assist.

 

Dealing with the various bottles in the bathroom.  Here is where I really need sighted help.  The bottles are almost always the same size and it is often difficult for me to know what each bottle contains.  So, again, I need to call on the front desk staff for help and they would normally send someone up to help me out.

 

The layout of the room is not much of a challenge for me as once you get the hang of it, most hotel rooms are laid out in a similar fashion.  Each person has their own techniques to deal with the challenges of traveling on their own but these are mine.  If you would like to learn more, then you can visit www.acb.org.

 

I'm Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day and asking you to go out there and help teach others about how they can assist a blind person if they notice that they are on their own at a hotel.  Before you render assistance however, ask the blind person if you can be of assistance.