Germany’s hotel industry

Barrier-free for a competitive edge

Accommodation providers in Germany are doing more and more to meet the needs of visitors with
disabilities. The services and facilities offered by some places go well beyond disabled-friendly rooms
and barrier-free restaurants. An increasing number of hotels are training their staff to better respond
to the requirements of this constantly growing target group. Some are even offering disabled-friendly
vehicles, wheelchairs for hire or guidance systems for the blind. GNTB 360° polled the opinions of
all GNTB members from the hotel sector. Here’s what they had to say.

DEHOGA I The German Hotel and Restaurant Association (DEHOGA) has kept the subject
of accessibility on the agenda since the Disability
Discrimination Act (BGG) was passed in 2001/2002.
In 2004 and 2005, DEHOGA and NatKo hosted
30 ‘Hospitality for All’ seminars, providing practical
and theoretical training to around 450 hospitality
workers and employees in tourism associations.
Today, this course still forms the basic content of Marcus Smola, Managing Director of Best
Western Hotels Deutschland GmbH
training in the regions and federal states and at
the German Seminar for Tourism.
hearing. For excursions, the hotel has a
Ernst Fischer, President of the The targets agreed with Sozialverband VdK
disabled-friendly coach with a lift for
German Hotel and Restaurant Deutschland, BAG Selbsthilfe (German association
Association boarding, a lift inside the bus for seating
of self-help organisations), the German society
guests and a disabled toilet on board.
for the deaf, the German society for the blind & visually impaired and the advocacy
organisation for self-determined living have served as a benchmark for the stand-
A&O Hotels and Hostels
ardisation and classification of barrier-free hospitality since 2005. We are delighted
that the standards established for the hotel and restaurant industry are now being
People with restricted mobility or disabili-
formally transferred to the tourism industry as a whole as part of the new classifi­
ties are most welcome at all A&O hotels
cation system, and further developed, and we hope that this system will become
and hostels, and our specially trained staff
standard across the industry.
are sensitive to their needs. All hotels offer
wheelchair-friendly rooms. We will get in
Best Western Hotels Koserow on the Baltic island of Usedom is touch with our guests in advance and on
Deutschland GmbH a fine example. The building has full
wheelchair access, and for guests with
Best Western Hotels in Germany are restricted mobility or visual impairments,
managed as individual businesses, so it’s the hotel offers 16 disabled-friendly apart-
difficult to gather information about our ments suitable for wheelchair users and
services as a whole. We do know, however, 20 disabled-friendly double rooms. Ten
that many of our hotels provide custom- further rooms are specially equipped for
ised services to cater to this target group. partially sighted guests and there are Ludwig Ottenbreit, representative of the
The Hanse-Kogge Best Western Hotel in twelve rooms for guests who are hard of management board, A&O Hotels and Hostels

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