ADA For Lodging: Best Practices and Standards

Dept. of Justice Guidance Fact Sheet

The Law!

Each Facility or part of a facility constructed by, on behalf of, or for the use of a public entity shall be designed and constructed in such manner that the facility or part of the facility is readily accessible to and usable by individuals with disabilities, if the construction was commenced after January 26, 1992 (Section 35.151 of the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design).

Facility means all or any portion of buildings, structures, sites, complexes, equipment, rolling stock or other conveyances, roads, walks, passageways, parking lots, or “other real or personal property, including where the building, property, structure, or equipment is located.”

Section 806 in the 2010 Standards for Accessible Design covers Transient Lodging Guest Rooms. 

What is a place of lodging?

Places of lodging include:

Hotels

Motels

Inns

Timeshares

Other facilities that offer sleeping rooms for short-term stays (generally 30 days or less.)

Revised standards that apply to places of lodging include requirements for the number of accessible guest rooms providing mobility and communication features and a requirement that these accessible rooms be dispersed among all categories or classes of guest rooms available in the facility.

Example: Hotels with 51 to 75 guest rooms require a minimum of 5 rooms with mobility features and 7 rooms with communication features.

Title III provisions of the ADA requires businesses in the hospitality industry to remove “architectural barriers, and communication barriers that are structural in nature, in existing facilities” when it is “readily achievable” to do so. The term “readily achievable” is defined as “easily accomplishable and able to be carried out without much difficulty or expense.”