I’ve been booking some trips online recently and have struggled finding accessible places to stay that perfectly match my needs. I am being very particular in what I want, but that’s suppose to be part of being someone on vacation with financial means, right? Getting an “accessible room” is not a problem. But in a specific part of town? With the kind of parking I want? So much of modern Uber and AirBNB based tourism is designed to be booked on the fly with the customer expected to be flexible in what they order versus what they actually get. And that’s fine for people who are able to physically travel in any vehicle or stay in any bed. But that’s not how having a disability works.
I’m planning a solo road trip to New Orleans for later this month. Last year around this time I also visited New Orleans and I stayed in an AirBNB for the first time. Our stay turned out great, the room was perfectly accessible as described, parking was free in a garage under the building, and we were right in the middle of everything that we just walked around the city the entire time.
This time around I was looking to stay in a different part of the city. Also the place I stayed last year is already booked. So I started off my search by looking at some regular hotels. I generally stay at IHG hotels (Holiday Inn/Crowne Plaza) and there are lots of them all over New Orleans ranging in price from $120 to well, as how as you want. Lots of swanky options. Well right off the bat I am limited by the parking options. Almost all of the hotels are valet parking exclusive at $50+ per night (plus tax and tip). The price is not a deal breaker, but I am generally not comfortable with strangers driving my adapted vehicle, especially when its my only way home. More importantly, I really want easy access to my truck when I’m in New Orleans. I am bringing my handbike and other adaptive toys with me and I want to be able to quickly switch them in and out. I could drag it all up to my hotel room, but then I’m dealing with a bike up and down in the elevator, and etc.
A few hotels I find do offer self parking at a rate of $40+ per night, but they are all at public parking lots across the street or further from the hotel. I wouldn’t mind parking my truck outside for a few days, but it is not ideal in any situation, but especially not in a bad neighborhood or when New Orleans’ infamous rain storms hit. Of course this parking situation is not a problem unique to disabled people. After all these hotels are in the middle of downtown of a major city, of course parking is going to be restrictive and expensive. I would love to stay at the Intercontinental as it looks classy as heck, but I don’t want to pay 60 dollars a night to have my truck and bike stashed away out of sight. https://www.ihg.com/intercontinental/hotels/us/en/new-orleans/
The attitude these days seems to be that everyone should just take an Uber and forget driving their own vehicle. And I would love to do that! Unfortunately Uber is not an option. First because I am driving in to town with all my gear. But second is because Uber is nowhere near accessible as required by the ADA. The drivers are not trained or experienced to deal with disabled people and the vehicles are not standardized at all. Unless you have a wheelchair that folds up and are physically able to step into a car, Uber is not going to work for you when traveling alone. I’ve used standard taxis before, generally mini vans, and those are bad enough. But at least the drivers expect to get out of their vehicles to help you load up and are happy to do it. Not to mention they are experienced professionals.
I hear that Uber has improved by providing wheelchair accessible vehicles in major cities like New York, Washington DC and London. I’ve also heard service is now available in New Orleans and I look forward to giving it a try. But I can’t risk my entire trip on the hopes of a new service. When it comes to services for disabled people I have a lifetime of experience telling me to be realistic about what is going to happen. There is no just fly in to a city and open up the app and hail a ride. It has to be reserved and confirmed in advance and reconfirmed before you leave. Once again, for a disabled person, there is no other backup. And I’m a rather adaptive and independent young male. Imagine doing this in a power chair or while lugging around a ventilator.
Since a regular hotel wasn’t going to work for me I decided to look for other options. As an example of how having a disability greatly reduces the options available, let’s take a look at AirBnB. I search for a private apartment the week I’m staying with no other restrictions on amenities or price and I get back over 1,000 potential results.
Now I add the barest of accessibility requirements. Four of them to be precise – an entrance without stairs and an entrance, bedroom, and bathroom doorway all wide enough to accommodate a wheelchair. Adding these four requirements drops the availability of rooms from 1000’s to now 7. Only 3 of which are in the area of New Orleans I want to stay.
The first result clearly has an unaccessible bathroom. The doorway looks about 20 inches wide. The second option is rather perfect, but it does not offer parking. Which I message the owner about it she suggests I take an Uber. The third and final option is nice, and they do have a surface parking lot next to the building for $30 per day. And its not valet which is good. However, the owner has not provided any pictures of the bedroom or bathroom doors. I have no way of confirming their width. I could ask the owner for pictures, and then follow up on them to make sure it happens, but now I am giving myself extra work to do for my vacation.
So in the end I’ve decided to go with a Holiday Inn in a good location for me. It has a public surface lot parking right next to it for $25 per day. The room is cheap, half the price of AirBNB, and fully accessible. I don’t have to worry if I’ll be able to get into the bathroom or not and if I have any issues Holiday Inn will have a whole staff there to assist me or modify the room as I need. With AirBNB these days you don’t even meet the owner usually. Most of the units have been contracted out and are handled by a local person making low wages and responsible for turning over a dozen units a day.
I’m going to continue my hotel and AirBNB search in case I find anything better. I have a few weeks until my trip. And I always book things using fully refundable rates for this very reason. Then I can start getting excited about New Orleans and all the things I am going to get to visit that I never had time for before. City Park, the Aquarium of the Americans, The Museum of Death, The World War II Museum. Plus all the usual food, jazz, alcohol, and history. This will be the third year in a row I’m visiting NOLA and I’d like to continue making it a tradition. At least until I can buy some property there.
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