Disability-friendly hotel building designs are now regulated under Law Number 8/2016 on People with Disability. The designs of hotel interiors must follow universal, inclusive design principles and be able to accommodate all hotel guests, including persons with disabilities.
While accessible hotels are important, the law can pose financial challenges for some hotel owners. However, this is not the case for Prime Plaza Hotel. For them, the expense was outweighed by the need to show solidarity with people with disabilities and to ensure their hotels were accessible.
Prime Plaza Hotel’s commitment to building disability-friendly facilities and infrastructure has been recognised with several awards and certifications from various organisations, including: a 9.5 Point of Customer Review Awards from Agoda in 2020; 100% Cleanliness, Health, Safety, Environmental Sustainability Certifification; 4 Star Hotel with ARISE Certification by Sucofindo, and more.
The hotel’s journey to creating disability-friendly facilities and infrastructure started with a discussion between the hotel management and Handicap International on the concept of a disability-friendly hotel. The discussion resulted in knowledge that led to new hotel policies on the physical infrastructure (building, facilities, work equipment) and the ‘soft infrastructure (operational regulations).
Prime Plaza Hotel management provided disability-perspective training to employees, which covered topics such as serving guests with a disability in a respectful way. The hotel also provided a range of alternatives for guests with a disability who wished to use a conference room. If the conference room at the hotel was booked, then the hotel would look for a conference room at another disability- friendly hotel. They would not only find an alternative conference room, btu would provide the guest with disability-friendly transportation, such as a car with low floors that could fit a wheelchair, or escort guests with a disability to and from the workshop at the other hotel, Personnel from the Inclusion and Advocacy Movement of Persons with Disability (Sasana Inklusi dan Gerakan Advokasi Difabel/SIGAB), one of INKLUSI’s partners, reported a positive experiences at Prime Plaza Hotel. At the time, the conference room at Prime Plaza Hotel was fully booked and they were offered the option to hold a workshop at another disability-friendly hotel.
Prime Plaza Hotel’s commitment to accessibility can be seen immediately upon arrival. There is a ramp for wheelchair users, the stairs are not too steep and they are equipped with a visible black line to help people with low vision. Guests with a disability are prioritised and provided with rooms on the first level. These rooms are bigger than regular rooms and equipped with sliding doors and disability-friendly toilets.
In addition to regular hotel room facilities, the rooms are equipped with an emergency button and other items designed specifically for wheelchair users, including having the door peephole aligned with the height of a wheelchair. The bathroom design is customised to allow more space and the bathroom is also equipped with handrails at several points and a seat in the shower.
The public restroom is built to a bigger size and has accessibility signage. The toilets are also equipped with handrails for people with disabilities to hold on to.
This is a brief overview of one of the disability-friendly hotels in Indonesia. Since becoming a disability-friendly hotel, the staff at Prime Plaza Hotel have become more aware and conscious of accessibility issues for persons with disability. They now have sufficient knowledge and familiarity with new technology to support the needs of persons with disability.
