Accommodating Hearing-Impaired Hotel Guests
A good hotel’s ultimate purpose is to be hospitable and accommodating to its guests’ needs—this includes the needs of its hearing-impaired and deaf guests. According to the NCRA (National Court Reporters Association), over 28 million Americans are considered deaf or hearing disabled. Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, hotels and motels are required to provide effective communication methods to ensure their deaf guests are being properly accommodated. The ADA covers everything from the number of rooms that needed to be accessible to guests who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to requirements for fire alarms and other safety equipment to TV captioning. Here are a few things to double check that you have available to hearing-impaired guests: