06/10/08

Copyright Michael Coatesworth.

Last revised: February 04, 2008

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My "First Hand" experiences with Disabled Access

See below

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Hotel Gran Bali Benidorm

Suitable for wheelchair users

Hotel: Gran Bali, Benidorm Http://www.grupobali.com

Disabled Rental equipment: Amigo24 http://www.amigo24.com

I received lots of letters from readers asking about Benidorm and if the hotel Gran Bali was wheelchair friendly. Not knowing the answer, I decided to find out for myself and booked a room at the hotel, Room 105.

When I went up the zigzag ramp and entered the hotel Gran Bali, at first I thought there had been a mistake and I was at the wrong hotel as the building was so grand and appeared luxurious. At the reception desk I was informed by the polite receptionist that it was indeed the Gran Bali that I had booked, and that there were ten disabled rooms available at the hotel. I was impressed and looked forward to my two week stay there. My daughter Lesley and I were given keys to our disabled adapted room and we headed for the lift to take us to the first floor. There were several lifts in front of us, and two had been specially designated for wheelchairs.

On entering our room I found plenty of room to manoeuvre my wheelchair. I opened the curtains to reveal a view of a flat rooftop with small chimneys, hmm; well I suppose the view isn’t everything.

I went into the large bathroom and found that there was a wheel-in-shower with two doors. I opened the doors to reveal a fold away wooden seat. I decided to try it out. So lining up my chair at the side of the shower seat, I slid across, so far so good. To close the doors I had to push my wheelchair out of the way. The door nearest to me closed with no problem, but I couldn’t reach the handle on the other door to close it. If I had turned on the shower there would have been water all over the bathroom. I opened the first shower door again, only to find that I could not reach my wheelchair as I had had to move it out of the way. I had to call Lesley to bring my wheelchair back to me. So I guess that the shower would be better off with a sliding door.

The toilet had a drop down bar, but there were no grab rails on the wall.

The wash basin was low enough for me, so no problem there.

On investigating the rest of the hotel, I found there was no problem in entering any of the lifts or rooms, and the hotel staff, were very friendly.

I checked out the disabled public toilet in the main reception area, and found that the first and second door a little heavy for me to push open, but I managed it, and on entering the large toilet area, I was dismayed to find that there were no grab rails or drop down bar.

Both dining rooms were very spacious and I had no problems reaching any of the counters and received help from the friendly waiters when I required it.

In my opinion, the food was excellent, with plenty of choices and it was fresh.

The outside area around the swimming pools and up to the far games room is all wheelchair friendly. Sadly the swimming pools had no hoists for the disabled, but there was a slope allowing for a wheelchair to be pushed into the pool. Having said this, there were no pool wheelchairs available.

Overall I was impressed with the hotel Gran Bali and would definitely return to stay there for another holiday.

NOTE: When I first booked my holiday at Thomas Cook travel agents, I was informed that the hotel Gran Bali was in Benidorm, but when I arrived at the hotel, I found that the hotel is in fact in La Cala in a little village of “AVDA,” and to get to Benidorm “Levante Beach area” is “ten euros,” ten minute drive each way in a taxi. The nearest cove is finestrat, approximately 700 metres away, downhill! Great going downhill, but if you are in a manual wheelchair it is quite tiring trying to get back uphill. My opinion, it definitely requires assistance to get back up to the hotel in a manual wheelchair.

The hotel Gran Bali liaises with a local wheelchair rental company “Amigo 24,” Email: amigo24@amigo24.com where you can rent several types of electric wheelchair or scooters as well as other disabled equipment at very reasonable prices. Check out their website at: http://www.amigo24.com On rental equipment, it is usually same day delivery to the hotel.

My Rating for Hotel Gran Bali

Independent wheelchair access: 9/10

Assisted wheelchair access: 9/10

Accommodation: 9/10

Bathroom / Toilet facilities: 7/10

Food: 9/10

Customer service: 10/10

Hospitality: 10/10

Overall for able bodied guests: 10/10

Apartment value for money: 9/10

Price of disability rental equipment from Amigo24: 9/10

Activities at the apartment: (no rating as apparently nobody took part)