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Hi folks, I'm hopefully going to a Uni reunion in central Birmingham (UK) in July and I'm having problems finding a fully wheelchair accessible hotel in central Birmingham.
The hotels I've come across have either got a double bed in their 'accessible' room(s) (which is no use as I can't share because of leg braces/scoliosis etc and I don't sleep well because of severe chronic pain).
If the hotel has 'twin beds' (i.e. two single beds in the one room), they seem to have a shower over a low-level bath! ("It meets our access regulations and is fully accessible" I keep being told!) I cannot manage a bath (especially as they seem to have low-level baths and no bath board/seat). (Also, because of my dislocated/dislocating shoulders, I cannot get in/out of a bath. I have a wetroom at home).
Anyone any suggestions please? I'm looking for a hotel in the 'Broad Street' type area as I need to get to the Birmingham Conservatoire.
So far, the 'Express by Holiday Inn' (which is across a nightmare road - the A38 which turns into Spaghetti Junction!) is pretty reasonable - some of their 'accessible rooms' (which have a double bed) have a (3ft) connecting door to a twin room and a wetroom as the shower room for the 'accessible room'. This could work with me sleeping in the 'twin' and my 'carer' sleeping in the double but my using the wetroom of the 'accessible' room to shower etc. (The twin room for my 'carer' is 'complementary'!) (This hotel has 120 rooms and I believe that they have around 7 or more 'accessible rooms'. One very daft thing is that all the (large 'disabled') flush handles on the toilets in the wetrooms are on the far side of the toilet 'because they were put that side so they were not in the way of the drop rail on the near side'!) They want around £55/night (including breakfast).
The other alternative I've found is the 'City Inn'. Their 'accessible rooms' are all double rooms and do not have connecting doors with other rooms. They do have wetrooms. I was told (because I asked politely and said how crazy it was that they ONLY had double beds) was that they would swap the bed for two singles especially for me! This is not a 'usual' occurrence apparently. (This hotel is in Brindley Place, behind the ICC/Symphony Hall.) (The 'City Inn' has 238 rooms, 14 of which it says they are "DDA compliant and has 14 guestrooms with full wheelchair accessibility." Though I was told they had '7 accessible rooms'.) They want around £65 (not including breakfast).
The Britannia Hotel (New Street), has accessible twin rooms with 'roll-in showers' (as they call them) BUT they allow smoking on some floors which puts me at risk because I have 'brittle asthma'/'severe chronic asthma' and can stop breathing at practically no notice. They don't have 'proper' full-time access and I'd have to send my friend who is going as my 'carer' inside to get them to fetch the ramp and wait for them to bring it out and put it down. (They have 214 rooms.) They want around £57/night (including breakfast).
The other alternative is the Macdonald Burlington Hotel (also on New Street). They only have one accessible room (but are planning to have more) and it is a twin room with 'roll-in shower'. They have 112 rooms but only the one accessible room. (The room is around £94/night, not including breakfast).
The Travelodge has showers over the baths in their 'accessible' rooms. Crowne Plaza has their two twin accessible rooms full on the days I am going to be in Brum. (They have 284 bedrooms but only 3 'accessible rooms' and that is after their 'refit'!)
A chap from the "Birmingham Disability Resource Centre" (who I decided to try for help and advice), suggested that I stayed a train ride out from the city centre! Birmingham New Street needs someone with you to access the lifts and it is hard to get assistance at the best of times (I've been left on trains before and that was before I became a full-time wheelchair user!). Also, at whatever outlying station, it would require a station assistant to get the ramps out for me to get on/off the train. (At somewhere after midnight, getting back to a hotel by train would be impossible on a Saturday night!)
I know that this is a common problem for those of us on wheels who can't use a bath or can't use/don't want a double bed.
Any advice is welcome!
Many thanks,
Cat
>^,,^<
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