26 May 2007

Copyright Michael Coatesworth.

Last revised: May 26, 2007

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Hello, I'm Mike Coatesworth

"Click on my picture above to be taken to my short autobiography"

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My "First Hand" experiences with Disabled Access

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Wheelchair access Hotel Sol Trinidad

Magalluf

Majorca

As my wife and I entered the Hotel Sol Trinidad at ten thirty pm, my first impressions were favourable and the unsmiling clerk at the reception desk was very polite as he took our booking forms and handed me a key to our room and then showed us how to get to our wheelchair accessible room.

The lift to the first floor was more than wide enough to the first floor and I was quite a happy mood, and then it happened. As my wife opened the door to our room I realised that it was too narrow and my wheelchair would not fit through the doorway!

We left the suitcases and returned to the reception desk and explained the difficulties that I was having.

The clerk looked at me and shrugged his shoulders as he informed me that all the rooms in the hotel were the same!

I sat looking at him for a few moments and then asked what happens next?

He picked up the phone and called a maintenance engineer and then asked me to wait a moment while he went away and returned with a smaller wheelchair.

We all went up to our room where the clerk tried the smaller wheelchair through the doorway and it fitted. He then asked if I would like to try the smaller wheelchair.

I got into the smaller wheelchair and manoeuvred myself through the doorway and then tried the bathroom and found that even the smaller chair would not fit through it.

The maintenance engineer came forward and removed the bathroom door.

After a bit of manoeuvring I managed to get into the bathroom. Once inside the bathroom there was hardly room to move around and although there was a pull down wall support bar adaptation for a wheelchair user at the side of the toilet there was not a lot of room to use it for support.

There was not much room in the bedroom and a large piece of furniture had to be removed so that I could get to the side of the bed.

The view from the balcony left a lot to be desired as there was only a flat roof above the reception area and the roofs of the fast food restaurants opposite

In my opinion this was just an ordinary room just like all the other rooms in the hotel and that the only difference was the single adaptation in the bathroom.

The wheelchair the clerk lent to me was not comfortable, but I decided that it would do until I could hire an electric one in the morning.

The following morning I went to the reception desk and asked another unsmiling clerk if there was anywhere that I could hire an electric wheelchair, but after a few calls I was informed that there were none available as they had all been hired out. There was nothing else that he could do or recommend. I found that although they were courteous they were not too friendly. I asked for some stamps for my postcards and was informed by a clerk that they had none left, but they would have some in shortly. I bought some in a local shop, but as a test I tried several times over the following days to obtain stamps from the reception desk and found that they still had no stamps, and still they were expecting some in shortly.

I went outside the hotel front doors and to my right I spotted a large yellow sign stating “Hire Centre.” My wife and I went over to it and eventually spoke to the proprietor who agreed to hire me an electric wheelchair, no problem. His prices were quite reasonable. When I asked him why the hotel clerk hadn’t recommend him to me, he stated that the hotel use their own contacts and surmised that he wasn’t on their list. The proprietor brought the electric wheelchair to the hotel and tried it through the doorway and it fitted, no problem, but the bathroom was going to take a bit of manoeuvring to get into. After a few practice attempts I managed it and although the electric wheelchair was a little tight for me, it was better than the wheelchair that the hotel had provided.

On the ground floor there were ramps in several strategic places which were great for electric wheelchairs and assisted wheelchair users, but an independent wheelchair user would have found it a little difficult and tiring getting around.

I visited the ground floor bathroom and it had a fairly large disabled toilet cubicle, but it was definitely not big enough for a wheelchair user to get in and out of the wheelchair to use the facility and I found it extremely difficult to manoeuvre myself so that I could use the facility as well as trying to close the door. Even assisted wheelchair users would find it difficult using the toilet. Also able bodied guests used the disabled toilet frequently as it was bigger than the other cubicles.

The dining room was easily accessible and the smiling staff very friendly and polite. Unfortunately the dining tables were a little small and I couldn’t get my legs under the table. I was able to help myself to most areas of the food area.

Outside in the pool area there was no problem and I was able to get around quite easily.

I enrolled for every activity that was available in the hotel, but except for the darts I required assistance every time either from the entertainers or other guests. I found that the entertainers didn’t adhere to the activities in the activity brochure and that they were either late or they didn’t turn up at all or only placed one or two activities on for the whole day. This annoyed quite a few of the guests and I heard several complaints of people being bored with nothing to do.

In the lounge area I found that I was unable to get onto the stage, but whenever I volunteered to join in the nightly games when they were laid on, the entertainers held the games on the lounge floor rather than the stage, so that was one problem solved. It was hard to get around the lounge area as guests sat around their tables their chairs frequently blocked the aisles so I had to ask them to move so that I could get past. Waiter service was laid on so I didn’t need to disturb the other guests too much.

Overall I enjoyed my stay at the hotel and I made several friends and we remained together as a group and we became known as the “A Team” from left to right Mike, Gordon, Lawrence, Syd, as we all volunteered for almost every activity when they were available.

I could not go back to the hotel until the following recommendations were made to the hotel and to be honest they should be made in all the “Sol Melia” hotels.

Recommendations

Widen the doorways to the disabled rooms

Widen the doorways to the bathrooms

Remove baths and install wheel in showers

Enlarge the disabled toilet cubicle in the ground floor bathroom

Place a few larger tables for dining room

Place ramps in all the activity areas

Ask the reception staff to smile occasionally

My Rating for Hotel Sol Trinidad

Independent wheelchair access on ground level: 8/10

Assisted wheelchair access on ground level: 9/10

Wheelchair Access in Accommodation (Bedroom): 4/10